The Beast Returns
by quillmaster14
Summary: It's been a year since the Titans defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, now they're focusing on small crime in the city. But something's not right with Beast Boy. Mood swings, fits of rage, and alienation take over him. Sound familiar? Full summary inside.
1. The Only Difference Between: prologue

**Summary:**

It's been a year since the Titans defeated the Brotherhood of Evil, now they're focusing on small crime in the city. But something's not right with Beast Boy. Mood swings, fits of rage, alienation, and the desire to take charge and "be a man" take over him. Sounds familiar doesn't it? But more happens when an old enemy from his childhood returns to seek his vengence on Beast Boy. What happens when this sudden beast that he still keeps within takes form? Will he be able to control it? How do you think Beast Boy would take it when this beast takes it's first victim?...Raven.

Disclaimer: I'm too sexy for a disclaimer.

NOTE: This prologue is Raven narrating. Then once Chapter 1 starts, it will go into omniscient narrator in 3rd person.

Thank you. Enjoy!

**The Beast Returns**

"Dude! You won again!"

"Ha! I told ya I'd win again!"

"I demand a rematch, but this time no power-ups,"

"You're on, salad head!"

It was the usual thing at this time of night; Beast Boy and Cyborg were at it again on the game station, fighting over who saved the universe first in one of their space wars games. Robin and Starfire were usually out and about minding their own business, whether it was in the training room, the roof, the basement, or their bedrooms, any place where they thought they were alone together. Me, I read. I sat at the end of the sofa while I sneak glances up at Beast Boy and Cyborg playing games, just making sure that they don't kill themselves in the end in their "heated debates" as they call it.

It always seemed like those two were up to something when they were together, whether it was a prank on Robin or getting me to go out of my way to play one of their ridiculous made-up sport games. Cyborg and Beast Boy were two partners in crime, innocent until proven guilty; it was unusual how those two suddenly clicked when they first met. But they definitely add to the uniqueness of this team. Both were useful in their own special ways.

"Ha! I got you again!" Cyborg gloated.

"Whatever, dude, you won because I went easy on you!" Beast Boy argued.

"Oh, please, B. C'mon anyone would have known that you were going to do a turbo kick flip with a mega size slam punch combo using your laser gun! Even Raven could notice that," I rolled my eyes at Cyborg's statement about me, as if I would ever pay that close attention to their gaming to know the difference between their kicks and punches. I would probably lose a few brain cells if I did.

Cyborg was the oldest out of all of us, and always dependable if you ever had a computer problem. He was like the big brother of the group, he looked out for us. If one of us wanted to go somewhere he would always want to be the one to drive, besides the fact that he was the only one with a car, but I always told him that I didn't mind flying. He was always up to date on the latest technology, especially with his car. Cyborg is the kind of guy that loves to have fun, but he has the self control, and the common sense, to restrain himself if the fun gets out of hand. He is just an all-around good guy, and just trying to live life to the fullest. Like we all should sometimes.

"But that's was a classic move. If you hadn't backfired by doing a double double whip it sonic boom blast 320, my move would have crushed your life points to oblivion," I was surprised that Beast Boy even knew the word "oblivion."

"Hey, guys," Robin entered through the doorway on the other side of the room, "Starfire and I are back,"

Robin and Starfire have been together for the past few months, ever since Robin finally got over his fears and admitted his feelings…in the heat of a battle no less. I guess it was expected of Robin, being the dedicated leader that he is, always getting rid of the trouble in town, it was no surprise that he suddenly blurted out his love for Starfire afterwards. And with the many citizens that were watching, he might as well have made into a victory speech. Starfire hasn't stopped talking about Robin ever since then. She would come into my room or "kindly" interrupt my reading to have one of our "girl talks"; it's very annoying to me about how often she talked about Robin, but I didn't let her know that, as a friend I wouldn't want to upset her. But I was happy for her and Robin, for the fact that they may have finally found that certain someone, especially with their constant flirty comments and hitting on each other secretly behind us. It was about to get on all of our nerves. But even though I was happy for them, I couldn't help but feel envious of them too. They have found that special someone that they can hold in their arms, that someone that they can go to for comfort or support, that someone who understands you, that someone that cares for you, someone…who loves you.

Love, it sounded so foreign to me, to feel it, or even hear it. But it was a feeling that I've always wanted to experience in my life, to have that feeling where I could never feel alone again, to have someone hold you while you slumber, or to kiss you after a long day. Even though I have the attitude and the look saying that "I don't do love," I've secretly wanted to. It's just one of those girlish traits I tried to bury within me. It probably would be nice, to not be alone anymore, and to have someone next to you forevermore. But I knew that it was an experience that I could never have. Maybe I've been reading too many romance novels lately, but can you blame me?

Even after my destiny had passed and the chains that bound me to this curse felt a little less tight. And even though I now have the ability to feel this love, I'm afraid to. I'm afraid of what my powers could still do if I did love, I'm afraid that I might hurt that special someone, and I'm afraid that my special someone may hurt me, like before. I didn't want to feel that way again, I wasn't ready for love, and I don't think I ever will be. And I don't want to fall in love just to get hurt again. It would be…too much for me to handle. But at least, I still have the love of my friends, and I know deep down that will never change.

"So, whose winning so far?" Robin walked down the stairs with Starfire hand in hand.

"I am, of course," Cyborg gloated again, "how was y'all little make out ses-I mean, uh, date?"

Beast Boy started to chuckle under his breath at Robin as he furrowed his brow at Cyborg.

"It was wonderful," Starfire cheeked, hovering slightly in the air, "we went to the mall of shopping and visited many of the earthling stores, while we ate the iced cream together and--,"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up, you two at ice cream together?" asked Cyborg.

"Um, yea, I think we are allowed to," Robin replied.

"On the same cone?" Cyborg slyly asked, Robin turned red in his face, but that red grew even more into panic after Starfire said…

"Oh, yes! It was most joyous, especially when we got to the center of the—eek!" Robin quickly slapped his hand over her mouth. Cyborg had this evil smile on his face, while Beast Boy couldn't hold in his laughter any longer. I couldn't help but let out a snicker myself, the look on Robin's face was priceless.

"Hey man, you know we're only kidding and it's not like you can hide the fact anymore," Cyborg said.

"Yea, true," Robin sighed in defeat as he and Starfire sat down on the sofa on the other side of Cyborg.

"And I think you have accepted the fact enough to a point where you don't care who makes fun of you, right?" Cyborg asked.

"I believe so," Robin said bluntly.

"So what're ya worried for?" said Cyborg.

"Well, I would like to keep our moments between us, between us. And I'm worried about you taking the jokes a little too far," Robin stated.

"Nah, I'm not _that_ cruel," Cyborg gave him a wink, "I'll go easy on you two, from now on,"

"Thank you," Robin smiled. He placed an arm around Starfire, as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"But you know what stinks?" Cyborg replied.

"What?" Robin asked.

"I can't pick on you two and your constant 'flirtiness' anymore," Cyborg picked up his controller getting ready to set up another one of their childish games.

"Oh, darn, what ever will you do now, Cyborg?" Robin commented sarcastically. Hmm…maybe he's learning.

"Well, here's to all my hopes going to Beast Boy and Raven getting together," Cyborg sai…wait…what did he just say? I looked up from my book to see the others reaction to that and mainly to just glare at Cyborg for the comment and to see the look on Beast Boy's reaction.

"What? Whatever, dude," Beast Boy looked a little pink even though he was green, "there's _no way_ I'd fall for Raven,"

"And why not? You never know, you can't control the fate of love," Cyborg wiggled his eyebrow at him; I was trying pretty hard to keep myself from slapping that grin off his face.

"Dude, it wouldn't work," Beast Boy replied.

"You don't know that, you may actually like her, or love her, heck who knows? You may actually have a secret little shrine of her in the back of your closet," If Cyborg was trying to do this for a laugh, he's not doing a very good job. Beast Boy would do better jokes than this.

"Cyborg, you're really starting to push it now, so just stop while you're ahead. It's not gonna happen," Beast Boy starting to get annoyed, and I didn't blame him.

Surprisingly, I had to agree with Beast Boy with this argument, there's no way possible for me to go for him. Beast Boy is the polar opposite of me, we would never get along in a relationship. He is outgoing and completely care-free. I'm too shy and take things more serious in situations and rather be in my room reading my books for entertainment. And when he tries to be funny…ugh…his jokes, it makes me want to put a permanent cork in his mouth just to shut him up. But that doesn't mean he can't be my friend. He is my friend, and he's always there when I feel like my life is pointless, he was there after Malchoir had been defeated, and he was there even in the end and after. He was just there, but he is just a really good friend and he means nothing more to me than that.

Still, I do respect him in his comedic moments, he does take some of the tension out of the hard times, and we all have a chance to roll our eyes or forget what's really happening in reality. But reality is reality and you can't change it, and I do sometimes wish he would realize that, because I'm afraid for him that he may be blinded from the truth…and he could get hurt.

But what would happen between me and Beast Boy if we did get together? If it was…love? I know that he is a very caring guy. The way he cares for all of his friends, including me, no matter how much I threaten or emotionally abuse him. I don't know how he can still be smiling after an argument he just lost. It sometimes makes me feel guilty in the inside how I just insult him yet he walks away happy. And his smile, he grins so wide that it almost makes me jealous that he can smile that big. And his eating habits, well, I can't really pin him on being a vegetarian as a bad thing. Even though the things he eats, like his tofu, completely disgusts me, and I know I'm not the only one. But I have respect for him being a vegetarian, and the promise he made to not eat other meats of animals, because, well, I'm not sure, I guess I would have to ask him one day.

But I know it wouldn't work between us. He would be too involved in his mindless video games to care enough for me. He wouldn't take that one minute to say "I love you" in the midst of something. He wouldn't hold me or kiss me good night and stay awake just to watch me sleep. He wouldn't go out of his way to do something sweet for me; I barely do anything for him. And he is _way_ too bright and perky for someone as serious and dark like me. He is always happy, and I know I never will be. And it's just fact that nothing would happen between us. Nothing.

"C'mon, B, admit it," Cyborg starting up this ridiculous subject again.

"Alright, Cyborg," I raised my brow at Beast Boy's answer. I hope it wasn't what Cyborg was thinking he was doing, he isn't truly going to admit something. Was he?

"Lay off, dude!" Nope.

Beast Boy suddenly stood up and dropped his controller on the couch with some sort of aggravation that I've never seen come out of him before.

"What?" Cyborg looked surprised at Beast Boy's sudden standing.

"You and you're cutesy little jokes about love! You can't just force two people to fall in love, it wouldn't work. And you joking about it isn't helping anyone! I don't know why you do it now, and I suggest you stop now before you take it too far! Because I can tell you now, buddy," he actually got up in his face, "I'm _not_ going to fall in love again, especially with someone like Raven! So just buzz off!" I tried to keep my focus on the book in my hands when he said this, it didn't help. What he said kind of…hurt.

"Hey man, I didn't mean any harm, I was just pokin' fun," Cyborg was trying to hold up his defense by putting his hands up. Beast Boy backed away from him and gracefully jumped over the sofa, almost like a cat.

"Whatever, man," he said, his brows were still furrowed, "I'm turning in for the night,"

"Now? It's only eight!" Cyborg frowned at him, "Look if it's about the jokes, I'm sorry, okay? C'mon, BB. It's Constant Video Games until You Drool night; you can't miss out on that,"

Beast Boy was nearly at the door when he suddenly stopped. The tension from his shoulders released and he looked more calm. He suddenly turned to the rest of us. I was still expecting him to be upset and come back with a bark. But his face…he wasn't aggravated or angry any longer, he looked just down right sad.

"It's…not the jokes, Cyborg," he said depressingly, almost too depressing for me, "and I'm not really…in the mood right now for games tonight. I just need to turn in,"

Cyborg was just as confused as the rest of us were; we all felt a little concern for him.

"Alright, B, go to bed then, no hard feelings," he said, trying to be as sincere as possible.

"Yea, no hard feelings," Beast Boy finally opened the door from the Ops. Room and entered into the corridors on the other side.

"Well, that was strange," Robin stated, Starfire agreed silently.

"Ya think? What's up with him?" I rolled my eyes at Cyborg, I thought he was supposed to be one of the intelligent ones, "You think he's still suffering through…puberty?" He gave a fake shudder of fear.

"You shouldn't have pushed him," I made my presence known, although the team is already used to my quiet nature, which I don't mind.

"Pushed him? I didn't touch him!" Cyborg raised in defense.

"You did emotionally," I replied promptly.

"Alright look, I'm sorry for the jokes and the messin' around, I promise I won't ever do it again," he raised his right hand and put his left one over his heart, like he was actually going to keep that promise anyway. Just wait until tomorrow.

"But still something isn't right with BB," Cyborg continued on, "he's been acting like this for the past week now, he has sudden mood swings, he gets all defensive about something, and he's negative about every little detail that happens. I get a little afraid that the poor guy is gonna explode if I do something wrong in his view,"

"Well, if it's something that gets out of hand, we'll step in and help him out. But I think the best thing is to leave him alone for awhile, he'll be back to his comedic self soon," Robin said this with such confidence thinking that he is always right. I think he's been around Starfire in the closet too much.

But I do agree with some of them, what is with Beast Boy lately? Cyborg is right about his mood swings, for a moment he's suddenly happy like he always is…then by the end of the day he always wants to try and chew someone's head off, not literally of course. Even though he does have that happy grin on his face constantly, I haven't seen it around lately.

Lately, I haven't seen much of Beast Boy, well, at all. I don't know where he goes all the time, but I have tracked him down with the tracker on the communicator when we need him for missions and crime. He's usually not where you would find him, in his room, on the roof, on the obstacle course alone and not doing drills, or he's on the outskirts of town on the east side where the major wooded areas are. I found it strange when I tracked him there. I did have the urge to levitate over there to see exactly what he does there, but I haven't had the heart to. I respect his privacy, and he probably goes there to be alone in the first place. But I can still worry for him.

Even though it seems that Beast Boy looks like a very open person, there are some mysteries about him that even make me wonder. Wondering if he's truly okay. But little did I know, that tomorrow was going to be a special day for Beast Boy.

That may change his life…forever.

Oh! The plotline begins!

So, please review, and leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I'm pretty sure I'm not asking for much. But..."I 3 your story plz update!1!" Doesn't really massage my ego as much as you think it should. So, tell me what you TRULY think, like answering question such as... "Did you like it? Which part did you like?" "Was there any mispellings?" "Could it have been longer?" "Was using Raven as the narrator a smart thing?" "Any points that you would like to point out?"

You know, something of that sort. And I'll reply to your reviews at the end of the story. And if you read my profile page, you will realize that this is a trilogy, so there is a _continuing_ side after this story ends. (The end is a tear-jerker, so bring some tissues!)

And if you flame me, well, what a miserable life you have to be flaming a story like _fan fiction._ And I may read it, just because I respect other people's opinion, but it doesn't mean I have to reply to it.

Oh, and if readers from Timeless Love are beginning to read this story, just to let you know...no one dies in this story.


	2. Ch 1: Anytime

And now, Chapter 1 finally arrives! I know, I know, everyone is upset because I didn't put it up in time, everyone thought that I was leaving it for dead, ha! No way! Never! I shall finish this, no matter how much it sucks. I don't think it sucks, I think it's a good story but I've had flames already, and I haven't even put up the first chapter yet! (until now)

NOTE: For those from the last chapter were wondering what the heck "omniscient" meant, well it means "all knowing." So in the last chapter, Raven did not know everything in the last chapter. Using "omniscient" narrator allows you, as the reader, to know what all the characters are thinking and feeling at that moment, it helps in foreshadowing as well. That way, letting all the characters know what they are thinking spares me some time and less confusion for you, as the reader, if I switched narrators around with different characters or just leaving as Raven. I believe you, as the reader, would have been left in the dark, which is what I don't want.

So here's chapter 1 at last, action shall begin in the next chapter, I'm so excited! I can't stand it!

**

* * *

The Beast Returns: Chapter 1  
**

The next day came and the Titans were all up and about getting ready for the day. By getting ready for the day meant a hardy breakfast and a crash course run in the danger room, the gym, and the obstacle course for Titans' traditional combat practice. It was a little thing Robin cooked up to sharpen their skills, and to have the ability when you expect the unexpected and to do all their exercises all in the dawn of the day so they could be ready for anything. So, the Titans were usually flat out tired in the afternoon, which meant they got a lot of down time.

However, Beast Boy was no where to be seen at breakfast. This did not concern most of the Titans; Robin figured that Beast Boy was still in his bed snoring the night away, he knew that Beast Boy was _not_ a morning at all. Starfire, well, she was always concern. Cyborg however felt a little bad about last night and how he suddenly blew up in his face for his constant joking. But then, he did feel that Beast Boy was being a little unreasonable too. After all, Cyborg was only joking! He didn't honestly think that Beast Boy would get together with Raven, that's why he was joking about it. It was so outrageously impossible that it was funny enough, in his view, to be joked about; he thought the two would get a kick out of it. Unless…they really were in love with each other.

Cyborg suddenly stopped eating his eggs and froze. He just realized something, what if they _were_ in love? Oh, the irony of it all. _They're in denial!_, he thought. That's why Beast Boy can't stop bugging the girl. That's why Raven insults him constantly. That's why they seem to despise each other's guts when they argue over the tiniest things. That's why Beast Boy was so touchy on the subject last night, and that's why Raven looked like she was about to strangle Cyborg and have him lying under the pendulum of death. They liked each other, and maybe Cyborg was on to something about Beast Boy having a Raven shrine in the back of his closet. He'd have to sneak in there to find out later. _Heh, heh, this is great! No wonder B got into my face last night, and I don't blame him either, I wouldn't want my secret love to come out. Maybe this is why he's in such a depressing funk lately, he can't figure out how to get Raven out on a date! Ha! Oh, how the tables have turned…Well, I guess I'll have to do what B said and lay off the jokes for awhile and let fate have its own way, since it actually is true. But that doesn't mean I can't push them along…hee hee._

"You okay, Cyborg?" Robin asked him. Cyborg finally snapped out of his train of thought, he didn't realize that he was grinning ear to ear with such a suspicion that frightened even Robin to ask.

"Wha--? Oh, yeah, I'm cool," he said, and he definitely was "cool." The door to the Ops. opened and Raven stepped in and walked down to the counter and stove to prepare her breakfast. She bid the Titans a good morning with the silent wave of her hand and went about her business. The other three Titans, Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire continued their breakfast in anticipated silence. Mainly waiting for the arrival of Beast Boy, and expecting the hell that may come with him. They all hoped he was in a better mood this morning; the thought of a good sleep would do him good.

But he never came.

Raven finally sat down and ate her morning meal, the Titans finished up their breakfast, but no Beast Boy. It was almost noon and the others were concerned. None of them had the courage to go to his door and knock to see if he was up. They all had a knowing look that he would get angered by them. He has been doing that lately. And just to get rid of the awkward silence that hung through the air, Raven finally spoke up.

"So, does anyone know where Beast Boy is?" she asked them. Cyborg shrugged his shoulders. Starfire and Robin shook their heads no.

"I hope he's just in his room still asleep," Robin said.

"Should we start combat practice without Beast Boy?" Starfire spoke. The Titans pondered on this thought for a moment.

"One of us should tell him what we are doing before he gets the wrong idea," Raven spoke with the rim of her mug between her lips.

"Good plan," Robin complimented, "any takers?"

Silence, no one wanted to unleash the animal upstairs.

"No one?" They all stared off into space. Cyborg was whistling.

"Starfire?" Starfire gave him a fearful side-glance.

"Raven?" She kept drinking her tea.

"Cy—never mind," Cyborg let out a breath of relief. Robin looked around the table at each of them. He personally didn't want to do it himself, but he knew that he is the leader of the team and the bravest one out of all of them. Plus, it's not like he had faced danger like this before, but the situation was unpredictable. Robin quietly drummed his gloved fingers onto the table thinking intensely. He felt beads of sweat rolling down his face as he prepared himself for the battle that was upstairs. He looked around the table one more time. Knowing that no one else would take the job, he gave Starfire a squeeze of her hand to let her know that he was saying his final good bye. He slowly rose up from his seat…

"I'll get him," Raven aroused.

"Okay! That's good, I'm going to use the bathroom," And Robin quickly ran out of the room to take care of business that would have fearfully gone on the floor if Robin wasn't fast enough. The others just stared on.

"To think that Beast Boy was the reason to have Robin scared out of his wits just because of the mood he has been in recently is almost too frightening for words," Raven got up from her seat, crossed the room and opened the door into the hallway. She started down the hallway as she heard plates clank together from the others that were cleaning them behind her. Taking a right on the hall that dead end in the back, she walked forward to hers and Beast Boy's rooms. She passed the bathroom that was next to her room and she heard the rushing water inside the room that Robin had just flushed. Rolling her eyes she continued on, passing her room until she ultimately stopped in front of Beast Boy's room. She stood in front of his door for a brief moment, she was contemplating if she should really go in or leave him in his silence.

"_He probably needs the quiet,"_ she thought, Raven didn't want to disturb him especially if he is in one of his stupid moods. She didn't want to walk in to the storm realizing that she just missed the eye. The last thing that Raven wanted was to be yelled at for no reason. She felt he was being a little selfish, but to know if he is truly alright, she decided to knock on his door.

"Beast Boy?" she called him. Silence was her reply.

"Beast Boy, it's Raven. Robin sent me to get you. We're about to begin practice," Raven tried knocking again. There was still no reply.

"Beast Boy!" annoyed by the fact that he was ignoring her she knocked harder. Raven finally gave up on the knocking when she couldn't feel her hand anymore and decided to let herself in, "You better be decent in there, I'm coming in,"

"Whoa," was her only reply as she opened the door into his messy room. Raven was surprised at the state of his room, it was not it's usual messy self. In fact, it was far worse than what an animal could live in. When she walked in, the first thing she noticed was the stench of his room, it wasn't dirty laundry or old moldy pizza. No, it smell like…blood. She continued further in and she noticed claw scratches, teeth marks, and stains of crimson everywhere. His desk along with his computer was destroyed, his bed was surprisingly still standing, but claw marks on it. His television was releasing electric sparks, his closet doors were torn off, piles and piles of clothes were ripped and scattered across the floor, carpet was torn off the floor at it's seams, all his lamps and ceiling lights were busted, glass was everywhere, and Raven stood in the middle of the horrific scene completely petrified.

"Beast Boy…," she whispered. In fear, she started moving things around with her powers to try to find Beast Boy, if he was still in here. Her mystery was solved when she saw the opened window behind what use to be his desk. Her intuition was telling her to call the others for help, but her instincts were telling her to find him now before it's too late. Raven quickly flew out the opened window from his room to the outside. She immediately looked down, but she saw nothing but the base of the Tower. She looked up and quickly thought of any place he might be. Since thinking about it wasn't working, she decided to track him. She pulled out her communicator and discovered that he was on the shores of the ocean on the north side of the city. But before she could fly off to find him, the alarm on her communicator went off.

"Oh, what now!" she opened her communicator again, "A boat accident?" she sighed, "the others can handle it," And she flew off into the distance in search of Beast Boy.

Back in the Tower, the others were gathered around the main computer to see what the problem was. Robin quickly typed in a few buttons and got their answer, he felt confused.

"Well, what is it, Rob?" Cyborg asked.

"A boat accident," and Cyborg was just as confused.

"A what? That's not breaking any laws, shouldn't the National Guard get it?" Cyborg attempted.

"Since when do we let the national guard do anything?" Robin replied with a smile, he turned back to the computer and typed few more times to get more details, a sudden worried expression crossed his face, "this is more than a boat accident,"

"What else is there?" Starfire asked.

"There's someone on that boat that's not supposed to be there," Robin replied severely.

"So, what's the plan, Rob?" Cyborg asked.

"We need the T-ship," Robin replied, "Raven, get the—uh…," he looked behind Cyborg and saw nothing but air, "is Raven still with Beast Boy?"

"Uh, with? More like, never has been," Cyborg replied, "or, doesn't wish to be, or maybe will slit your throat for suggesting that she wants to be,"

"Never mind, Starfire go get Beast Boy and Raven, please," Starfire nodded her head and flew off into the hall. Robin shook his head at Cyborg and silently started to snicker.

"Ooh, you thought that was funny, good that means I won't get put down for making a joke again," Cyborg said. Robin continued laughing.

"I can't believe you seriously think that those two may actually get together," he laughed again.

"Aw, c'mon, can't you have a little faith?" Cyborg asked, "We both know well enough that it would be good for the both of 'em."

"True, but it can't happen, there's just no way. But that was a good one, not the best timing, but still funny," Cyborg rolled his eyes.

"I cannot locate Beast Boy or Raven," Starfire flew back into the room, "and I do not know where they have gone, but…,"

"What is it, Starfire?" Robin was suddenly worried, he noticed the color draining from Starfire's face.

"Something happened, Beast Boy's room has been destroyed, it looks like the bomb has been ignited inside and exploded," She finished.

"Great," Robin groaned, "Jeez, I'm getting sick of his mood swings,"

"So what should we do now?" Cyborg asked.

"Raven, come in," Robin spoke into his communicator. There was a silent pause, as he waited for an answer, Starfire took this time to silently land on the ground.

"_Raven here, over,"_ Raven's voice echoed through the speaker. Robin felt slightly relieved.

"Where is Beast Boy?"

"_That's what I'm trying to find out, I'm sure you already found the state of his room,"_

"Yes, we have, do you have any known whereabouts of his location?"

"_I tracked him on the shores on the north side of the city close to the outskirts of town next to the city reserve,"_

"Good, can you handle Beast Boy on your own?"

"_Yes, I'll call for back up in case anything goes wrong, if not I'll see you at the sinking ship…with Beast Boy,"_

"With," Cyborg giggled under his breath, Robin glared at him.

"Very well, the coordinates to the location of the ship are on your communicator, Robin out,"

"Okay, everyone to the T-ship!"

Raven flew across the sky over the tall buildings that was Jump City below. She kept flying as fast as she could to the other side where the outskirts were and hopefully where Beast Boy was. His location was near the oceans waters, so she assumed he was on a beach over there…somewhere. Raven finally reached the end of the city, now her only dilemma now was to find him. She pulled out her communicator to see if she was close, and she was very close.

Beast Boy was just over one hill that Raven had landed next to, she once again levitated into the air and stood at the top of the hill to look down at perhaps any kind of hell unleashed. But the was nothing, no fighting, teeth grinding, claw swipes, roaring, or anything, if anything Raven was expecting his primal beast form again, that was the worst case scenario. This was the polar opposite of what she was expecting. She saw Beast Boy at the foot of the hill sitting on the top of a small cliff where the water met the land, he had his feet dangling below the open waters. Raven was furious. He made her worried that something had happened to him, that he may have been hurt. Oh, he was gonna get it now, how dare he just sit there when he has his whole team worried that he might have been killed! And now, when there was a mission to go on now, did he not even have the heart to pick up his communicator to see what was going on? Raven started marching right down to him to give him what's what, she was ready to go all demon dimension sending up his ass. Raven looked straight at him, ready to give it all, but she glanced at his face and the emotional turmoil that it was giving off, and then she calmed down. Raven stopped without him noticing her, he was sitting where she had his side facing her, he kept focusing out into the ocean. But the look of his eyes drew her attention, she noticed that there were heavy dark bags under those eyes, in fact his entire face looked tired. He must have not slept at all last night, she thought. The emotion that he was giving off, as she read, was a mix of sadness, anger, and annoyance. But what was throwing her off was that he kept his look neutral, and it wasn't a Raven-neutral face as some would expect, it was as if he didn't care about anything anymore, like he gave up.

Giving in herself, she slowly walked up to him. Raven knew that he was aware of her presence, his precise sense of smell would allow him to guess, and that Raven doesn't exactly have the smallest of feet. He never looked up to greet her as she stopped by his side, she had her arms folded and he felt like she kept analyzing him. She felt his annoyance grow inside of him.

"You've got some real nerves leaving the Tower like you did today," she commented. Raven sat down next to him, Beast Boy tensed up and turned his head in the opposite direction. The last thing that Beast Boy wanted was to hear her sarcasm, especially today.

"And then not answering your communicator was a good one, I must have called you about three times," Beast Boy huffed out a frustrating sigh, he buried his head into his recently folded knees. Out of all the Titans that had to come to retrieve him, it just had to be Raven. She was the only member of the team that hated his guts like it was hobby of hers.

"Alright, Raven, I'm in no mood for you to sarcastically pick out my mistakes," Raven kept her face straight, "so, let's just skip this part and cut to the chase, what are you doing here?" Raven shrugged her shoulders.

"I just thought that maybe you'd like some company," That's right Raven, don't force him into coming with you, just take it slow she told herself. Besides maybe just sitting here with him would give him a chance to speak what's on his mind, and why he keeps on acting the way he is acting. This mystery will finally be solved. Beast Boy was slightly surprised when she said this, usually this was the other way around, he wanted to stay to try to talk with her. She had to be doing this for a reason. He let out a mocking like sound.

"Why? So you can shove my--,"

"You know, I may not show them as often, but I do still have _feelings_, Beast Boy," Raven interrupted him, "And some of the things you do sometimes hurt me a lot more than you think they do." Beast Boy lowered his head slightly ashamed.

"I know there is something that is bothering you, I can sense it," she began, "and I also know that I'm not the person you really want to deal with right now, but," he was still focused on the sea in front of him, "I'm not here to talk, but I'm willing to listen," she finished. Beast Boy understood what she was saying, but he did not understand why Raven was saying it. He wasn't sure if he could trust her enough with his secrets, but he also realized that there's probably no other way to get rid of her either. Then he thought that maybe speaking his mind would help ease his troubles a bit even if it was Raven he was talking to. He sighed.

"Shouldn't we leave on the mission?" he asked, taking a short cut to avoid this conversation.

"You can't save people unless you're willing to do so," she commented, "And you're definitely not willing to do so, I feel it. The team can handle it until you're ready,"

"What about--,"

"I'll take responsibility with Robin," Beast Boy was a little reluctant to talk, but Raven seemed to have everything under control, like she always does. It gave him comfort on some level that she was willing to listen to his problems. It felt like she put the world on hold so he could have his say.

"Raven, why are you doing this?" he asked curiously.

"Honestly," she replied, "you seem to me that you need a good friend right now, and putting all differences aside I thought maybe I could be a good friend to you now, since I never have been before," Beast Boy looked up at her, she was fidgeting with her cloak, "and considering what happened with you last night, I guessed you didn't want to talk to Cyborg," Beast Boy huffed.

"You've also changed over the past few weeks. I haven't seen much of your comedic self lately, it's been so quiet in the Ops. that I still can't read in there,"

He laughed lightly, catching Raven off guard.

"And that's…probably the first time I've heard you laugh in a month," she said, "and at me no less,"

"Sorry, I guess I thought it was funny that you miss me," he said. She sat there and thought about it for a moment, and then she looked up at him.

"Yeah, maybe I do," she replied. He looked up with mild surprise and realized that she was serious. Raven relaxed her shoulders back and avoided his eyes, "I just don't like the fact that one of my friends is feeling down. Especially when it's so unnatural for you that it feels like you're turning into me," she said jokingly. Beast Boy was saddened that she still degrades herself to be so low.

"Look, Raven, I appreciate the gesture, but…I'm just not in the mood to talk right now," he replied. Raven looked at him with sad eyes, but she understood all the same.

"Alright, I won't pressure you," Raven stood up next to the edge of the cliff, but then she turned around to Beast Boy who was still sitting, "hey," he looked up at her, "don't feel like you have to battle whatever it is you're battling by yourself. You have four good friends who all care about you, you can talk to one of us when you're ready. We will listen," Beast Boy let off a faint smile, he felt touched.

"Thanks Raven," he said.

"Anytime," she replied, "So you ready to go? The team probably needs us now," Beast Boy nodded and stood up next to her getting ready to take flight.

"So, what's the mission?" he asked as he crouched down getting ready to transform.

"A boat accident," Beast Boy froze, "50 miles off shore from the north side of the city, it's not far from here. The others took the T-ship ahead," she turned, "I've got the coordinates so you can follow me," Raven looked up and saw Beast Boy's fearful stare, he was pale like he had just seen a ghost.

"You okay?" she asked him. He swallowed some air and slowly tried to regain his composure.

"Y-yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he squeaked, he was holding some kind of pain back, trying to fight it off so Raven wouldn't feel it. It was a failure that Raven didn't want to tell him now.

"You sure?" she asked again, "because we don't—,"

"I said I'm fine, Raven, I'm fine," he raised his voice slightly. Raven was silent, she took a side-glance and waited for him. Beast Boy looked at the ground he felt completely vulnerable and insecure in front of himself and Raven as he pushed thoughts in the back of his head. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Can we talk later?" he asked. She looked up and slowly gave off one of the biggest smiles she could offer, which was a tiny curve at the end of the lips.

"Of course, come on let's go," he nodded as she gracefully took up to the sky. Turning into an eagle, he followed her to the scene of the crime.

* * *

To be continued... 


	3. Ch 2: Blue on Black

Okay, well, if some of you read my recent deviation on devART you would realize that I said I was gonna post this like ten minutes after I put up the promo. Well, I wasn't expecting my internet to time out on my ALL DAY. So that kinda ticked me off. BUT with all the extra time I had, I worked on Chapter 4 in the process and was taking out my anger on that one. So Beast Boy should be REALLY pissed off in the next chapter, because that's how I felt. Heh.

NOTE: I would just like you "note" you all, that if there are comic book readers out there, then you guys may already guessed how Beast Boy feels about the "boat accident." And if you are a comic reader, then let me remind you that this is a FAN FICTION. This story is a fiction from a fiction in a vision of a fan, hence the name "fan fiction." So, my point is, I'm getting my villain in reference from the Geoff Johns series. Well, maybe not in reference, this IS a villain from the Geoff Johns series. So, the facts you may know from the comics are going to be a little switched around in this story. The reason I chose a villain from the Geoff Johns comics are as followed: 1) I am not creative nor brave enough to come up with my own bad guy in this story 2) Any villain from the animated series is totally lame and cartoonish (except for Slade) or it has been done before 3) I'm reading the Geoff Johns series now, I haven't had the chance to go back to the George Perez days (because my stupid comic store has like three of 'em and the entire collection is like...a lot of money that I don't have right now) And 4) This villain works perfectly with this story, this guy will fix all my loop holes.

Alright so there's my rant, enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

**The Beast Returns: Chapter 2**

"_5 miles and closing in,"_

"_How many are aboard, Cyborg?"_

"_We go 3,954 cruisers and then 135 crew members, a total of 4,085 people on board,"_

"_Estimate how much time we have until the boat sinks,"_

"_By the schematic of the ship and considering the rate those flames are rising, we got approximately two hours,"_

"_Alright Titans, our first goal is to get these people to safety as fast as we can, and then we'll worry about our mysterious guest. Starfire?"_

"_Yes, Robin,"_

"_Check to see if there's a ship or a land mass near by,"_

"_There is a land mass 10 miles to the northwest and a ship in the south, distance is precisely 62 miles,"_

"_How big is that ship?"_

"_The S. S. Starstruck has a capacity of 700 people, that is not including the crew members,"_

"_Code in Starstruck and tell them we need their ship,"_

"_Of course, Robin,"_

"_I hope BB and Rae get here before it's too late, we need them now,"_

"_I just hope Beast Boy's selfless enough to be in the right mood."_

"_Robin, I have received word from S. S. Starstruck, they have told me that they shall arrive in one hour,"_

"_Thank you, Starfire. Cyborg."_

"_Rob?"_

"_Call Raven to see if they're on their way,"_

Beast Boy was in shark form swimming in the ocean below Raven. He didn't want to see the boat in his state of being, so he turned into a shark since they use more of their nose than their eyes. But did not mean that Beast Boy could not see the ship completely. While he was underwater, his shark like eyes could make out the bottom part of the boat, and he could see the light above the surface from the fiery flames.

Raven flew a few feet above the water, she would fly higher but she didn't want to lose sight of Beast Boy and him being a shark didn't help much. His green skin blended so well in the waters that he was almost invisible. She diverged her eyes away from Beast Boy and instead looked towards their destination.

"A cruise ship?" she asked herself, "I thought it was just a sail boat," Raven looked down at the communicator that she still held in her hand, "I guess that's what happens when computers use the simplest of icons,"

About a mile away from their location was indeed a cruise ship. Near the bottom of the ship the crisp blue ocean waters beat up against the bow as the reflection of the ship glowed on the surface. The waves rolled on as the water reflected freshly painted colors of white and pastel colors of green and purple. With that, the ocean tells no lies once the light shimmered up to the decks of the boat and the glimmer disappeared. The white clean siding of the ship suddenly vanished underneath the dark grey of smoldering ash and then engulfed in brilliant red and orange flames, while black smoke quickly flew up into the atmosphere.

"_Raven, come in, Raven,"_ Raven clicked open her communicator.

"Raven here, over," she said.

"_This is Cyborg, how far are you guys from the ship's location?"_

"We're several feet away coming in from the east side,"

"_Good, our plan now is to get those people on the boat to safety, there's a little island to the northwest and a ship that's coming in from the south in less than an hour." _

"What do you want us to do?"

"_Robin wants you guys to take care of the passengers, because you two are the only ones who can carry a large amount of people at once,"_

"And what are you three going to do?"

"_Douse the flames from the ship, duh,"_

"Right…and how many people are aboard this ship?"

"_4,085, that's including the ship crew,"_

"And that's 4,085 too many, Cyborg, I don't think that--,"

"_You gotta, we're pressed for time! We only have a little less than two hours before the ship collapses,"_

"Great…we'll do our best,"

"_And that's all you can do, Cyborg, out,"_

Raven stopped for a moment and thought about their situation at hand. Immediately she sent a mind pulse to Beast Boy; it gave him the instinct to stop and come out of the water. Beast Boy did so, and he transformed back into human form and kept kicking his legs so he could stay afloat and not go under. Raven hovered a few inches above the water in front of him.

"Cyborg just called," she said, he nodded, "our job is to get all the passengers off of that ship. We have only two hours to do it,"

"So, how many people are on board?" he asked.

"Over…4,000," she groaned worriedly.

"Wonderful,"

When the T-ship finally arrived at the scene, people were already crowding in on the deck. People were yelling, screaming, and fighting. There were people that were violent enough to push others off the deck and into the ocean, while crew workers worked fast to toss off emergency floats and life jackets to save those that fell over. Other crew workers were fast at work trying to put people on as many emergency lifeboats as they could. However, people were panicked; they jumped on the boats and cut the ropes and chains that bound them, while other boats were engulfed in flames. Other smaller ships had arrived, tug boats, sail boats, and a few houseboats. All were helping in any way to put out the increasing flames.

But before anyone could expect it, an explosion rattled the ship. Wood docks and metal machinery flew high in the air burnt or on fire; the captain's bridge eventually broke off and headed down into the decks where all the passengers stood. Raven and Beast Boy were near the side of the boat when it happened. Raven quickly grabbed hold of the bridge with her powers and tossed it into the ocean out of the way of the ship. The T-ship swung around to face the cruise ship, it landed on top of the ocean's surface touching it slightly.

"_Hydro blaster is in full-swing,"_

"_Since when did we have a weapon called a 'hydro blaster'?"_

"_Hey! I designed this ship and I'll call whatever weapon I want to call it,"_

"**_Target locked, system ready for firing sequence,"_**

Three hydraulic cylinders extracted from the top of the T-ship. What the hydro blaster did was disperse ocean water onto the flames on the ship from the water that the T-ship was taking in from the under side. Aimed at the cruise ship, heavily pressurized ocean water diffused at the base of the flames. Cyborg increased the pressure from the T-ship and the fires were decreasing at a slow pace.

"_Oh, yeah! Now we're gettin' progress!"_

Raven and Beast Boy, in eagle form, flew up ahead above all the shouting people. They had to figure out how to calm everyone down so their rescue could be as quick and calm as possible.

"_Please help us!"_

"_We're going to die!"_

"_I need to get home to watch my soaps!"_

"Everyone please calm down!" she shouted over their heads.

"_Help us!"_

"_Quit stalling and get us outta here!"_

"_I need my inhaler!"_

"This is ridiculous," Raven flew higher up so she could get the entire ship in view. Then she crossed her legs in the air and concentrated.

"_Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"_ An intense amount of her black aura eluded from her body and into the panicked crowd below. It covered the space in between them all and no one could in front of them. In only few seconds the crowd was silent and standing still. Beast Boy changed into human form and landed on the deck.

"Dude, how did you do that?" he shouted back at her. She landed softly on the deck next to him.

"I took away their fear," she simply replied, Beast Boy smiled in admiration.

"Nifty," Another explosion near the stern rung through their ears, "we need to get these people off _now_,"

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven summoned the largest of platforms she could with her black aura next to the end of the deck.

"I'll take as many people as I can to the island; you need to keep these people under control when their fear comes back,"

"Got it," and Beast Boy helped people onto the giant black mass of energy. There had to be at least two hundred of these people on top of this energy mass and more continued to pile on. Whatever Raven did was really helping; there were bigger guys and a few crew workers helping women and small children onto the platform. And what was strange was that everyone was thanking each other. None of them were afraid of the fact that they were on a burning cruise ship that could collapse any second and could explode to oblivion. Beast Boy took this opportunity to glance over at Raven. She was concentrating as hard as she could to hold this many people at once, she had never done such a thing before. Her brows were furrowed, sweat was beading through her forehead and she was shaking.

"Beast Boy I can't take anymore!" she shouted through her closed eyes.

"Then go and take these people to safer ground!" Raven concentrated with all her power and the mass floated gently across the ocean. The passengers were smart enough to stand still as they were carried off away from the cruise ship. The energy mass was moving as much as it could and Raven floated slowly behind them, then they were on their way.

Beast Boy turned around and saw the many people that were still crowded behind him. They still stood silent, waiting patiently for their rescue and those flames weren't getting any smaller. A few of the passengers waved at him with a happy smile. _This is weird _Beast Boy thought. Beast Boy turned again to look to see if Raven was making progress. Then he looked down at the ocean water; he noticed that the ocean was lighter then the water along side the ship, then he realized…_a sandbar! _He jumped into the water and swam down as far as he could to see how deep this sandbar was. It was deep enough for him to transform into the biggest animal he could think of. He flew up back onto the deck.

"Alright, listen up! Everyone slide down my tail and hold on to each other!" he shouted at a confused and rather disturbed crowd, before he jumped into the water again he heard a few shouts saying "weirdo! Pervert!" back at him. Hitting the ocean surface he quickly turned into a brontosaurus with his big tail he gently laid it down onto the edge of the dock, and luck for him, the crowd did what they were told to do. They slid down his tail on top of his back and they held onto each other while Beast Boy was standing on the sandbar. He couldn't hold as many as Raven did but he held what he could, after he had a good amount of people on his back he lifted his tail and began to step forward. Beast Boy slowly walked off the sandbar and into the water, the water rose above his huge knees but then it rose higher than what he had expected. Beast Boy's back was actually submerged under water, but was still shallow enough for people to stand on. Everyone was rocking back and forth then they held on a little tighter, especially when Beast Boy gave a slight shudder from the cold of the water.

He walked on and on and further away from the burning ship. The more he walked, the more he realized how deep the ocean really was, soon he was going to go under and the passengers wouldn't survive. Luckily, flying in the distance in front of him, Raven came back and saw him struggle, he roared for her, and she understood. With what brainpower she had left, she lifted the passengers out of the shallow water with her black energy mass and headed back towards the island. Beast Boy on the other hand, transformed back into an eagle and went back to the ship.

He landed back on the deck where there were still people left by the thousands. Beast Boy looked over them, there was no way that the Titans could pull this job in time, it had been at least over an hour and the ship was beginning to take water. Suddenly, another explosion was sounded, flames flew into the air and the top deck began to crumble. Beast Boy couldn't take it anymore. He opened up his communicator.

"Robin!" he called, "we need more help! There is no way we can get these people to safety--,"

A horn sounded. The Starstruck finally arrived.

"'Bout time!" Beast Boy shouted at the ship. The Starstruck rolled over to the side of the burning ship, close enough to where they can put a crossing bridge to the boat, but far enough to where the Starstruck wouldn't get burned itself.

"_Stand clear! We're going to put a bridge across!"_ a voice sounded from a speaker. Beast Boy flew to the other side to help them get the bridge across faster. Once they finally got the cross bridge over, passengers walked past them in a fast pace to the Starstruck to safety. About twenty people crossed in two minutes, they were making excellent pace, but once again another explosion occurred, this time shaking the entire ship and the cross bridge making a few people fall off into the water between the two boats. The cruise ship was sinking faster and faster and the cross bridge was extended as far as it could go. And right before their very eyes, the cruise ship began to crumble; it was breaking from the inside. Beast Boy didn't know what to do; all he could do was try to get people on the boat faster.

"Beast Boy!" he looked up in the distance and saw Raven floating in the sky, "Try and keep the ship from sinking!"

"I got it!" he shouted back. He ran inside the burning ship.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven quickly started forming another platform, but this one was smaller. This platform allowed more passengers to get across onto the Starstruck ship. After Raven's platform was in place more people by the masses began to run across. More and more people were boarding and the more weight the ship had to endure. Starstruck did have a limit, and it was realized when the left side started to lean downwards.

"_Miss! We can't take anymore! You're going to have to stop them!"_ The captain shouted through his microphone. Raven slowly dissipated her energy mass to focus on what the captain was saying, and the passengers stopped running over. The cross bridge was pulled up quicker than Raven anticipated.

"We're running out of time! You're going to have to take the weight!" she shouted back. The bridge did not extend again. The Starstruck was getting ready to depart with the few hundreds it could hold. She turned around to the burning ship, there were still at least three thousand passengers left, and some were becoming cowardly and jumped over the side of the ship.

"I need help," Raven quickly radioed Starfire to come out and help, "Starfire," And as fast as they could began to take innocent people to the small island that seemed so far away.

Inside the ship, Beast Boy was in cheetah form chasing through the burning metal of the ship. He was on the third floor he counted, and was trying to find the weakest point of the ship so he could be the strong point. He was panting through the heat of the fire and was getting tired from all his running and dodging of burning ship walls. Some of the stairs that led further down below were blocked off by fire and some were caved in from furniture above. Beast Boy ran through a burning door that led to the dining hall of the ship. There was a stage on the opposite end with the curtains on fire; knocked over tables and chairs were everywhere from the constant explosions rocking the ship. The ship itself was already unstable as it was before, things that were burning with fire kept moving back and forth across the floor, making even bigger flames. Beast Boy was about to run out into the other side of the dining hall when he caught a sense of something wrong.

"_H-help! Help me! I-I'm trapped!"_ he heard the cry for help; he could tell that it was a man, an old man, in fact. He searched around the dining room, sniffing the air to somehow find that human scent within all the smoke around. He turned into his human form.

"Don't worry! I'll help you!" he shouted inside the dining hall, a piece of burning plaster fell in front of him and he jumped out of the way.

"_I-I can't b-breathe!"_ It sounded like it was coming from the stage. Beast Boy ran towards the cry. He was in front of the stage, he couldn't go on the stage, and it was completely engulfed by massive flames. Beast Boy decided to chance it, he slowly went up on the stage to find this helpless person.

"Where are you!" he coughed a few times from the lack of air. But before he knew it, he was knocked off his feet by a force unknown to him. He fell back and landed on a broken table, and then it disintegrated after his fall.

"I'm here," the voice said. Beast Boy looked up and was staring at …nothing. He got up quickly and turned around. He was staring at a black silhouette of a man standing before him; he couldn't make out the look of his face within the black smoke.

"Hello Garfield Logan, it's good to see you again," he said. Suddenly, Beast Boy was attacked again from behind and was down on his feet again. He got up and looked around.

"Who are you?" He called out, he heard nothing in return, "I don't have time for this! Come out and fight!"

"You know who I am, Garfield Logan," Beast Boy turned around, the man was face to face with him and Beast Boy had to step back. The man wore a dark black mask that covered his entire face; Beast Boy had no idea who he was.

"What do you want?" Beast Boy asked. The man chuckled.

"Something only _you_ can give me, Garfield. I've been watching you for quite awhile now, and I must say that you've grown into a fine specimen," his voice was so familiar to Beast Boy, but he couldn't put a finger on it, "a specimen, but not a man," The man walked closer to him, and Beast boy took a few cautious steps back.

"Look, dude, I don't have time for this, this ship is coming down and both you and I are going to go with it if we don't get out of here in time!" He shouted at him. The man just laughed.

"There is no need to fret, Garfield. This ship won't sink anytime soon," he said.

"And how do you know this?" Beast Boy replied curiously.

"Because, Garfield, I'm responsible for it," Beast Boy stared on in fear, "and you're not leaving until I get what I need," Then the man pulled out something from his belt, Beast Boy could not make it out with all the smoke around them.

"I must tell you, Mr. Logan that you are a very hard person to track down. Five years it has been, and yet I've learned more about you than even _you_ could possibly know," he said.

"Dude…are you stalking me?" The man laughed.

"Not stalking, simply learning," the boat leaned in the other direction, making Beast Boy stumble a bit, "I know about you're little disease that infected you when you were very young, and how it gave you you're powers. I know about how you arrived to Jump City as a small orphan child, your time with the Daytons and the Doom Patrol, and how you left them behind and joined the Teen Titans," he smiled wickedly under his mask, "I even know about your primal beast inside you,"

"No…," Beast Boy backed away several feet from him. The man kept walking forward.

"However, what I don't know is why you must keep it locked away under tight security," he pushed a burning table aside that Beast Boy backed behind out of his way, "You fail to realize, Garfield Logan, that this power you possess is a mighty one," Beast Boy kept backing away, "this power, this link inside you, could revolutionize our world and lead it right into the very future…you're primal form is the link between man and animal, if only you would unleash it,"

"NO!" Beast Boy changed into a lion and attacked him, but the man quickly transformed into a rhino and charged back knocking Beast Boy into a wall, it brought the entire thing down. Beast Boy was completely taken aback by his attack.

"You're-you're…a shape-shifter too?" he got up.

"I am so much more," he said coolly, "what do you say, Garfield? Let me help you, and we'll discover the wonders of this link and you will no longer be limited by this curse. You would never be a threat to anyone ever again," Beast Boy looked up at the man with tempting eyes. He began to remember all those times in his room alone at night. How he had to fight his own self just to keep his inner animal tamed, so he could protect those that he cared for. He remembered the last time that his beast was unleashed…now, he has the chance to put it to sleep, forever.

"Why did you set the ship on fire?" he changed the subject, "you can't just do a house call?"

"It seemed to be the only way to get your attention, I don't think you would have taken a house call from an old friend like me," he said, "plus, I enjoy the smell of fire,"

Beast Boy looked up with fierce eyes as he formed into a tiger and pounced on him. Beast growled at him disgust between his tiger paws.

"Why would you want to kill thousands of lives just to get to me!" Beast Boy's anger was growing inside of him. He was sweating and breathing very hard.

"Good boy, you're getting angry, that's very good," he sneered. Beast Boy raised his claws and swiped down at the man, he quickly dodged by turning into a snake. Beast Boy got up to face him, he was ready to fight.

"I know how you been feeling lately, Garfield, angry, frustrated, manipulated and…completely alone," Beast Boy turned into a rhino and charged. The man dodged by turning into a hummingbird.

"I'm not alone!" Beast Boy said, "I've got four great friends that--,"

"—don't treat you with respect," the man finished, "your friends, they do not see the potential you hold with your powers and even in your friendship with them. What they see instead of a prized strong-willed changeling is a scrawny green comic _screw up_ that can change into animals," Beast Boy transformed into a bear and clawed the air that he was just in. The man reached over and knocked another burning table in front of Beast Boy, he created a wall of fire between them. Beast Boy transformed back to normal with furrowed brows, it was a sour gaze towards the mysterious man.

"What about your leader, Robin?" he said, "has he ever taken your suggestions for missions, or ever took the chance to take your idea into logic? What about during your battles, does he ever work with you with your combat combinations? No, he never has. He thinks of you in disgust, Garfield. He believes that you are nothing but extra weight on his shoulders. He thinks that you do nothing for the team," Beast Boy swung at him again with his bear like claws; he didn't want to agree with him. His aggression grew.

"How about your other friend, Starfire?" he continued, "she always seem to have sympathy for you in everything you do. She feels sorry for you; she feels that she needs to tolerate your pathetic excuse for jokes just so you won't feel like a loser. Why do you suppose she doesn't understand?" Beast Boy roared at him and flew into the air as a pterodactyl and zoom straight into the stranger. The man transformed into a tiger and jumped up to bite him and he swung him straight into the stage on the other end of the dining hall. The man jumped onto the center following his landing.

"What of your best friend, Cyborg?" he taunted more, "is he truly your best friend, or is that what he wants you to believe? I bet you get sick of his constant nagging of your eating habits or how he throws out your vegetarian foods. All because he doesn't understand that that's who you are. Or during combat practice how he always seems to defeat you with one single punch and never gives you the chance to fight back! He looks down upon you, Garfield, all because he believes he is stronger and more intelligent than you. He only sticks beside you as your 'best friend' so he can put you down in anyway," Beast Boy flew into the air again this time he turned into a hippo to smash him into the floor. The man dodged once again as a cheetah and transformed back again. The man then transformed into a bull and rammed him up against another wall. He kept ramming him again and again until Beast Boy was on knees desperately trying to gain air back into his lungs, but the only air that was available was full of ash and black smoke. Beast Boy was coughing hard.

"How about your friend, Raven?" he whispered, crouching down on one knee in front of him, "I believe you had a slight crush on her in the beginning, that was until your Terra friend came along. But the thing is Garfield Logan," Beast Boy slowly glanced up at him leaning closer in. He could feel that man's cold breath on him, even though the room was full of heat, "She doesn't understand the most out of all of them. She has despised your very insides since the day you joined the Titans. She has thought of nothing about you except how big of a pain in the neck you are. Every time you do something nice for her, every time you try to even speak to her, she threatens you, beats you down, and destroys the joy that's in your very heart," The man stood up.

"No," he huffed, "Raven understands…Raven said she wants to talk with me…she said she wants…to help me,"

"And _you_ want her to _help_? She is the one needs the help, she is the weaker one! You are the one who is stronger out of all of them put together, Garfield!" he paused. The man noticed that Beast Boy began to form tears in his eyes; he was huddled over with his head pressed against the ashen floor, and little droplets were fallen down his face. He smiled at the pain that he was inflicting on him, then realized why…why he was getting so emotional over this right now. He realized and then he laughed at him, "you were going to tell her everything weren't you?" Beast Boy whimpered as he looked straight up again. The man knelt down again and lifted him by the collar.

"You were going to reveal to her why you have been so upset recently. You were going to her that today is the day…that your parents died," he choked on the knots that bunched up in his throat, Beast Boy felt like he stopped breathing, "in a boating accident no less. Rather ironic isn't it?"

"N-no…," Beast Boy tried to release himself from his grip.

"You thought you could release that pressure, that guilt that you've held inside for so many years. And release by confining deeply about it with your friends, and you, out of all of them, secretly wanted to talk with Raven? Am I correct?"

"…Y-yes," Beast Boy was seeing his point. The man tightened his grip.

"She doesn't respect you, Garfield! She doesn't even have the _emotions_ to speak to you! Just like all your friends don't have the dignity to respect you! You don't belong with the Titans," Beast Boy yelled, he did not want to give in to this.

"No…no!" Beast Boy struggled harder.

"You need to release that pain! Release it, Garfield! Release it onto the ones that have pained you in the first place,"

"No! I-I can't! I won't!"

"Then come with me, together we will end this corruption and we will destroy those that hurt you!"

"NOOOO!" Beast Boy lost it, his will, his control, and his fury. He transformed into the Beast.

"Yes, Garfield," the man smiled again, "that is _exactly_ what I want,"

Up above Starfire and Raven were gathering as many people as possible. Starfire was carrying ten people at one time, while Raven was slowly losing strength to carrying people on her energy mass. They made two trips to the island so far, and the Starstruck had just returned, and once again rolled next to the burning ship. They had gotten less than half of the ship to safety, but there were still at least two thousand people left on board. The Starstruck extended its cross bridge to the cruise ship and people began to slowly climb on.

Raven began to return to the cruise ship, she was flying at an increasingly slow pace, she was panting, and her head was on fire. She couldn't see straight once she arrived back at the ship. With utter sloppiness, she made another energy mass, and more people jumped on it quickly. And with more people climbing on, the more Raven was losing her focus. She took what she could and moved the energy mass only a few inches away from the ship before she blacked out and fell out of the sky.

The Beast began punching and slashing at the man with a fury. The stranger only took a few hits; he was only good at dodging the smallest of attacks. Then the man had the chance to transform into a woolly mammoth and charged the Beast into the wall again. The Beast was dazed as he laid there groaning in the pain and from the intense heat that was increasing from the lack of air in the room.

"So, Mr. Logan are you ready to give yourself to me?" he walked over cautiously as he spoke with such a venomous voice, "or are you going to be stubborn and do this the hard way?" The Beast regained his focus and pounced onto him again. The man dodged the fierce attack by changing into a chimp doing back flips. He transformed into a gorilla and jumped in the air to smash down at the Beast. The Beast grabbed a hold of his massive fists and thrust him into the floor paneling. While the black gorilla was down the Beast began to slash the chest of the mysterious animal changer. The gorilla transformed back into the mysterious masked man, he limped back a few steps rubbing the side of his chest where the Beast had opened the flesh wounds. Then the stranger smiled wickedly.

"Well, Garfield, it seems that you do not want to give me what I need, so I'll take it from you," he raised his hand and quickly pummeled it down into the beast's chest and stabbed him with a syringe. The Beast roared in immense pain and slowly transformed back into Beast Boy. The man took this chance to go behind him and hold him down by the shoulders and pushed the syringe deeper into his skin as the chemical liquid gradually diffused into his body. Beast Boy was in agony; whatever this chemical is was taking a giant effect on his changing abilities. Parts of his body were morphing into different things from different animals simultaneously. His nose grew into a snout, his neck had gills, his hands were claws, his feet were webbed, and he grew extra limbs. His mind felt like it was going to explode.

"Maybe this solution I concocted for you will change your mind," he slowly pulled out the syringe, and Beast Boy stopped changing, he backed away and was breathing hard. His hair was flat with sweat and he looked up. His eyes were a sickly yellow as he stared angrily back at the man in front of him, grinding his teeth with such an aggression and hatred. Beast Boy roared and attacked him so quickly that the man jumped into the air and slashed him hard in the back with one of his transformed claws. Beast Boy was finally down, his back where his uniform was sliced opened was covered in crimson blood.

"We shall meet again, Garfield Logan, but for now," he had a silver ball in his hand, and then he threw it down so hard that the ball went through the floor, "you better leave before you reach Davy Jone's Locker," And then he disappeared.

Beast Boy had never felt more furious in his life.

The ship was beginning to crack down the middle. Fire was bursting out of the sides like firecrackers. Beast Boy shot out from a side window in eagle form. The top most deck had fallen, pipes were breaking, the ship began to lean forward too fast for anyone's pace. More people were falling off of the cross bridge to the Starstruck. Glass from shattered windows were littered everywhere. The ship could not stay afloat any longer.

"_Starfire! Get away from the ship, NOW!"_ Robin shouted through Starfire's communicator.

"_Where's Beast Boy?"_ Cyborg called out in the microphone, _"We gotta find Beast Boy!"_

"_There's no time! We need to get out of here! The ship is collapsing!"_

Starfire had just caught Raven before she reached the ocean's surface and held her in her arms. When she turned around a flood of people from Raven's energy mass was now swimming for dear life in the ocean water. There was one final explosion and Starfire immediately flew away. The explosion caused the entire ship to disintegrate. The explosion was so massive and so huge, that the cloud of flames reached the decks of the Starstruck and just like the cruise ship it went down along with all the remaining passengers, even the ones in the water. T-ship flew away when the explosion had happened, once the T-ship had stopped Starfire placed Raven inside her seat and then she had returned to hers, while the others looked back, and grieved for the thousands of innocent people that they were unable to save.

* * *

To be continued...

Oh, and I forgot to mention above, that all those chapter alerts that some of you may have gotten in your e-mails. Yea...um...I re-read this chapter and I realized that I made so many grammar mistakes that it was so choppy and so hard to read that I had to re-edit this. So sorry for the hoax, folks! And just to remind everyone...CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! But I still love you all!


	4. Ch 3: The Remedy

**NOTE: Just for the die-hard overly commited comic book fans (as myself) out there. I would like to state that I am still using some facts that may not be comic book related, so please don't correct me on that, I already know. Oh, and also for those who think "sakutia" is real, please realize that it's not. It's not really, I promise. I'm just really good at wrting. .:wink:. **

**The Beast Returns: Chapter 3**

Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and an unconscious Raven were flying back towards the Titans' Tower in silence that afternoon. The Titans were stunned, shocked, and completely mortified over their loss. Not only did the Titans fail in their mission to save those people from that burning ship, but they had lost someone that no one could replace in their hearts, they had lost one of their team members, a friend, and a part of their family; they had lost Beast Boy. And all the Titans were blaming themselves for it.

The Tower came into view, and they were almost home. Usually the warm and glistening welcome of the Tower would make them all feel like they were victorious in their finished missions. But they weren't today, and when they looked up at the Tower they all thought of nothing but the green changeling that was no more. Cyborg couldn't help but shed a tear for losing his best friend.

"_Robin?"_ he choked over the microphone. He got no reply.

"_Maybe we should turn back and search,"_ Robin lowered his head; he was fighting hard against that painful knot in his throat that seemed to threaten tears in his masked eyes.

"_And then what? Be torn up even more then we already are? No, we need--,"_

"_At least we would know, Robin!"_ Cyborg shouted in the speaker,_ "We've got to go back! There still could be a chance that he survived! We need to go back! We need to know!"_ Robin let go of a quiet hiccup to release the tension in that knot of his. He thought about it, and he looked at the Tower that they were heading towards. And then he realized, things would never be the same, the Tower would be a lot quieter now that… He sat back in his seat and sighed.

"_We need to take Raven home first,"_

He busted through the door like it was nothing but air. He ran inside to catch the cool breeze of the indoors; he felt disoriented and dazed as he tried to regain his focus, but the loss of blood wouldn't allow him so. He fell onto his knees breathing hard on the cold bare floor that was in the Tower's lobby. To any human eye it would appear that he was only tired and weak. Sweat beads were falling down his pale green cheeks, his hair was matted down flat, and his face was dirty and covered in soot. His muscles would tense up, his bones would snap, mounds of hair would grow in strange places he never knew he had, his teeth would grow large and then small again, and as he tried to catch his breath a different animal-like sound came out of him each time he inhaled. All of this would be what any human eye would see, but to him, he knew on the inside that his body was changing…permanently.

He could feel it, he could feel it taking its form inside of him once more, and he knew what he had to do. There was no time to speak or to even question why, so he ran towards the elevator that would take him to his desired location. He constantly pressed the up button until the doors breezed open and he collapsed inside. The doors closed behind him, and he laid there in complete agony, but only for a few moments, for the elevator was impatient and needed to know his destination. He pushed up onto his aching and still transforming kneecaps, so he could press the button that would take him to where he wanted to be. He looked at the eight buttons that were paired together side by side with his sickly yellow eyes, and he slammed his fist down on the button. The elevator chimed happily, now knowing where he needed to go. His fist slowly tensed down and he tried to keep himself balanced as the elevator went up the shaft.

The elevator only went up one level and the doors opened again. He started burning up, he panted when he tried to get up to walk. He began sweating waterfalls when he reached the cabinets on the other side of the sanitized white room. His back sent him one giant jolt of pain and he was on the floor again, and he couldn't take it anymore. He became angry as he literally ripped his uniform right off of him to cool down. Blood flowed like hot tar down his back when it blended with the ashes that were still clinging to him. He couldn't stand the pain, he pummeled his fists right into the cabinet just to release the stress his body was giving off. Two large dents were made into the cabinet that pocketed his fists firmly. He became even angrier with himself when he realized that he might have damaged the contents within. But it didn't matter now; his hands relaxed and shook manically when he opened the doors that revealed his salvation.

He saw small syringes with needles already attached to them on the door to the right. He ignored the syringes for the moment; he was more focused on the thousands of small vials that held thousands of different kinds of medicines for all different kinds of things in the inside of the cabinet. But only one was of interest to him. It was the medicine that was administered to him a long time ago, back when his anger was released in horrifying ways. It was created by his so-called best friend in this very room, and he knew that he still had some left. It was the antidote for his primal beast. And he knew that it was in here.

He began to greedily rummage through all the vials and all the bottles to find the one true medicine that will solve all his problems. He threw all the others that were no use to him on the floor as they shattered at his feet. A puddle of medication blended together on the floor and there were only so many left inside the cabinet. That was until he found it. The contents within the vial glowed a mysterious green in his eyes, but he paid no attention to it as he grasped one of the needle-ready syringes and filled it to its maximum capacity. He lifted his arm, ready to give him his relief. He stabbed his arm on the underside and gave out a loud sharp roar of pain as he injected himself with the antidote. He had never felt more relieved in his life when he fell to the ground and knew no more.

"_Titans, get ready to dock,"_ the T-ship was ten miles away from the Tower, it was time to dive under water to the launch pad under the Tower.

"_Vertical stabilizers shifted, angle of attack shallow, speed has decreased, passing diving point in approximately two minutes,"_ Cyborg informed, the T-ship began to dive at a twenty degree angle, and it soon hit the surface and was underwater. The jets turned on and the T-ship cruised through the water into the Titan's water shaft that connected to the launch pad. The T-ship landed slowly on the turning dock until it came to a full stop, and the dock began to rise and twirl around until it breached the water's surface inside the Tower. Everyone got out of their cockpit and landed on the dock. Starfire opened up Raven's cockpit and carefully lifted her out of it. Robin moved over to the side of the dock.

"Put her over here, Starfire," Robin asked, Starfire placed Raven on top of a stretcher that was conveniently located under the first aid station in the docks. It was use for these kinds of missions, especially the failed ones.

"Cyborg, can you check her vitals?" Cyborg bent down and lifted up his robotic arm and he studied it as his arm beeped quietly. He put his arm down.

"She's fine, heart rate is a little fast and blood pressure is slightly high, but she'll be alright, she just overstressed herself," Cyborg stood up a little more after he finished.

"Let's get her to her room," Robin commanded.

"Not to the infirmary?" Cyborg raised his human brow. Robin shook his head.

"She just needs some good rest; I've learned well enough in the past to not have Raven wake up in the infirmary. Besides, her mind has got to be throbbing like crazy,"

Cyborg agreed, and the three of them took Raven into the elevator shaft up to the top floor of the Tower. All three of the Titans stood in silent; Cyborg couldn't help but notice the tension increasing in Raven's face, and how her brows quivered. Starfire was staring at the elevator floor and was quietly thinking to herself. Robin sensed her troubled mind and took her hand into his, and she smiled slightly.

The elevator chimed and arrived at the top floor, which held the Operations Room and all of the Titans bedrooms. The elevator doors automatically opened and the Titans stepped out of the shaft.

"I'll carry her from here; that way we can just leave the stretcher in the elevator to take it back," Cyborg suggested, and Robin nodded. He picked up her light figure and walked towards her bedroom with Robin and Starfire in tow. The door opened to Raven's room, and the weary Titans walked quietly inside. Cyborg continued to walk towards her bed, and with a gentle touch, he placed her on top of her bed. The rest of the Titans turned around in silence and left her room in peace.

The door closed behind them; they all stood there in the hallway and gave a long blank stare to each other. The Titans were stumped; they did not know what to do now. All of them felt nothing, all of them felt confused, but most of all the Titans have never felt more worthless. Seconds grew into minutes and minutes seemed to grow into hours. The silence between them lingered in the air for what seemed like forever. However, even in that silence, noises still protrude through halls. The silent churning of machinery inside the walls, the clicking of the computers underneath their feet, and the sounds of the next brand cereal could be heard from the television in the Operations Room, but none of them paid any attention to it. They didn't care; they only cared about the loss of their friend.

"So…who wants to be the one to break the news to Raven?" Cyborg said, breaking the silence. Robin frowned at the thought.

"We shouldn't worry about that right now, we've got bigger things to care about," Robin stated, Cyborg raised his brow in wonder, "I'm going to the Ops," and Robin slumped down the hall.

Cyborg and Starfire lingered behind a little longer; they were trying to figure out what they should do to keep their mind occupied. Then Cyborg realized something.

"Hey, did we leave the TV on?" Cyborg and Starfire began to follow Robin to the Ops. The sound of the television increased as their steps began to retire behind, and Cyborg thought more about the subject along the way. He doesn't remember turning the television on, nor does he remember anyone watching it before they left this morning. So how could it still be on? To his human mind, he may have just overlooked the thought. However, once the door slid open, he had his answer, and Starfire gasped in shock.

"No…,"

"It's…not possible,"

"Oh, hey guys, how's it going?"

Beast Boy was sitting on the sofa watching television when the Titans came in. He turned around and smiled softly at them. A double take required all three of them to fully comprehend what they were seeing in front of them. Nevertheless what they saw was true. It was indeed Beast Boy. He was sitting there laughing at one of his favorite programs while the others couldn't figure out what to say. At that precise moment, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg were on an emotional roller coaster that no one knew how to stop. Cyborg felt happy yet extremely upset at the same time; he didn't know if he should hug the grass stain or strangle him until he turned purple. Starfire felt confused; she wasn't sure if he was even there. Starfire kept denying herself that he is just a ghost and that he isn't real. She quivered as she gently grasped Robin's arm. However, Robin knew better to think that this was a spirit of Beast Boy; he knew that he was definitely the real deal. Thus, Robin was enraged; his mask furrowed, his lips tightened, his teeth grind, and his muscles tensed. How could he just sit there and smile like nothing happened? They had just lost so many people out there. It was time to get some answers.

"Where were you!" Beast Boy turned back around to watch the television again; blowing off the question like it was dust on his shirt. Robin growled and stormed towards the sofa, "Answer me!"

"I was on the ship, dude," Beast Boy stood up to face him with the sofa between him and Robin, "'trying to protect the innocent,'"

"You disobeyed orders," Robin judged a little too quickly for his own tastes. Beast Boy was offended.

"Oh, really? And in what way did I disobey orders?" he asked sardonically, purposely disrespecting Robin.

"You and Raven were supposed to stay on deck and save those people!" Robin yelled angrily.

"She told me to go down to the bottom of the ship and support it--,"

"You are suppose to contact me and the others to inform of a new order,"

"Like I had the time! The flames were gaining up on--,"

"You could've made time! You could have sent Starfire out to help Raven! You could have saved all those people!" Beast Boy turned to walk around the sofa to go to his room.

"I was busy trying to do…something else!" he tried to cover up his story. He didn't want to tell Robin what he saw down there in the dining hall. He wouldn't understand. Nobody understands. Which was why he was walking fast towards the door to avoid this conversation, but Robin intercepted him.

"And what was that, Beast Boy? It definitely wasn't supporting the ship because the ship's already gone now,"

"The ship was going down anyway!" The others couldn't believe what he just said. Robin was about to lose his patience, when Beast Boy said this. The silence in that room couldn't be anymore deadly then it already became when the three Titans first walked through the door. How could he be so selfish?

"You…cost thousands of innocent lives on that burning cruise ship," Robin got deathly close to his face, so close that Beast Boy could make out the outline of his eyes within his mask, "and all because you were doing 'something else,'" Beast Boy gave the tightest stare that he ever gave in his life and it was directly at Robin. He growled softly and his muscles tensed within his clothes.

"You leave Raven to save those people alone, you suddenly disappear without contact, you have us _mourn_ over you because we all thought that you were dead! What exactly _did_ you do Beast Boy? Because it seems to me that you did absolutely nothing!"

"Don't you just pin this on me, Boy Blunder!" He stood up straight so he could get right into Robin's face, "All of you have as much fault in this as I do! Where exactly were you, all-fearless leader? Oh, that's right! You were snuggled up all warm and cozy inside the T-ship, while me and Raven are risking our lives to save others!"

"You saved no one! Raven was the only one obeying orders and now she's overstressed herself to a point of unconsciousness, and all because you weren't there to help," Beast Boy's blood began to boil inside of him. He began to shake with anger as beads of relieving pain rolled down his green cranium. Robin and Beast Boy both stood there in mass amounts of anger; they both were staring each other down like an evil criminal. Robin realized that he couldn't look at Beast Boy anymore; he felt completely disgusted with the green changeling. Robin walked over to the counter island and leaned up against it; he forced himself into deep thought.

Their job was to protect the innocent, use their power for good, and to bring justice to anyone who opposes. To Robin, Beast Boy broke the biggest one of all; he did not only disobey, but he completely ignored it. Ever since Robin first met him, he perceived the green changeling as a person would eventually disobey an order. However, he never imagine that he would pull a stunt like this. Beast Boy was always a laid-back person, but Robin _never_ once believed that he would let his laziness get in the way of innocents. That was until Beast Boy developed this recent attitude of his. And Robin has had enough of it.

The awkward silence once again rose into the air. Cyborg and Starfire were watching this verbal war the entire time, but their eyes were still glued to Beast Boy, who was standing deathly still and only focusing on the wall across from him with his slits of eyes. Robin eventually spoke again.

"Now the media is going to be on our tails for months. There's going to be law suit after law suit from all of this," he said with creepy calm. He sighed and stood up straight, "And I can just see the headlines now, 'Teen Titans fail for first time,' 'Teen Titans responsible for thousands of lives,' 'Teen Titans mass murderers!'" He hit his fist on the counter top; everyone, except Beast Boy, flinched in surprise. He walked back in front of Beast Boy.

"I don't see any reason why I shouldn't just kick you off this team right now and take you straight to jail, Beast Boy," Robin began to lose it. Starfire gasped again.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that," Beast Boy growled at him. Robin was ready for him.

"Is that a threat?" Robin said in his same tone. Beast Boy was breathing hard, his fists tightened, and he was ready to pounce.

"Maybe it is, because I've had enough of the way you are treating me," Beast Boy said.

"And I've had enough of your attitude! You and your pissed off little self is the major reason of why we failed!" He rubbed his brow, "When are you going to change, Beast Boy? When are you going to finally grow up and start facing reality like a man? When are you going to stop taking life like it's just a big joke and start realizing the importance of protecting this city!"

"I don't have to hear this," Beast Boy began to pace towards the sliding doors. Robin intercepted him again.

"You're not going anywhere," Robin growled.

"Move, Robin," Beast Boy growled right back.

"I'm not done with you yet," Robin stared him down.

"Move _over_, Robin," Beast Boy said menacingly low.

"Not until I have your communicator," That was the last straw.

"_GET OUT OF MY WAY!"_ He roared. Beast Boy grabbed Robin's arm so quickly Robin didn't have time to think, and he flung him over his shoulders into the window across the entire Operations room. The windows were so thick that Robin did not go through, but he hit it hard enough to leave a crack and a large bruise on the back of his head.

"Robin!" Starfire cried and flew towards him along with Cyborg. Robin opened his eyes and found Beast Boy had already left.

"That spike-headed freak!" Beast Boy yelled when he stormed through his bedroom door, "He can't treat me like that! He doesn't even have the right to!" He started grabbing closed wardrobe drawers and thrower them across the room. "Nobody treats me like that! Nobody!" He took his claws and swiped the sides of his walls. He stood still, breathing in deeply with aggression. He lifted up his arms to look at the palms of his hands; they were still in claw form. Then, he remembered the changeling he met on the ship, and he wondered…how? Beast Boy transformed his claws back to normal and sat down in his chair in front of his desk, but when he sat down he was sent a jolt of pain from his lower back and he yelped. Annoyed by his weakness, he removed the top of his uniform leaving his torso bare. Beast Boy was bandaged around his front and back. The back of him was still white, but the front was lightly red. He finally found his comfort, removed his shredded clothes off his computer screen, and began his search.

The sun in all its shining glory began to depart behind the city lights when Raven woke up. It was not dark, but the glimmering sun was bright enough to shine straight through her bedroom window and blind her with beams of light when she turned over. She groaned and covered her eyes with her forearm and rolled over again to get more sleep. Immediately her eyes darted open.

"The ship! Ahh!" she exclaimed and slammed her palms into her forehead, it throbbed as if her mind wanted to escape her skull. Raven laid back down to try and make the pain go away; it eventually resided. She released the tension in her face and just laid there on her bed trying to remember how she had gotten back into her room. She remembered the burning cruise ship, the mass amounts of people that her and Beast Boy had to save, but she didn't know if they saved everyone or not.

"I must've blacked out," she muttered aimlessly, "I told Cyborg that there was too many people for me and Beast Boy to handle," The sound of his name drew her attention, and she realized that the last thing that she could remember was Beast Boy running into the fires of the cruise ship.

"Beast Boy," she said to the ceiling, "I wonder if he made it out okay," Raven decided that she had rested enough and went down to the Operations Room to find anyone that would give her some answers.

Raven opened the door to the Ops. to only walk in and discover Robin watching the news on the television. She walked down rubbing the side of her head slightly as she traveled towards the sofa. Suddenly, she felt a huge wave of anger rush all over her; she stopped in her tracks and quickly figured out that Robin was emulating this tremendous vibe of emotion. Raven approached Robin with extreme caution, for she was expecting the worse from him, as if he was going to literally explode or something. She guessed that he was aware of her presence and decided to speak up.

"Robin," she called. No response came to him. Raven felt him tense up and his anger grew. She quickly pressured her head with the soft of her palm to relieve her of his angry tirade.

"Robin, would you please calm down? Your anger is giving me a huge headache," Raven rubbed her temples with her fingers, trying to add some relief to her aching head. In several difficult seconds, Robin's anger eventually resided and Raven's mind could function properly.

"Thank you," Robin sat there feeling calmer than he was before, however he still had the same angered expression grazing his face as he watched the television screen intently for news reports. Raven noticed his unchanging physical appearance, especially when he did not respond back to her, and still felt a bit of his heated emotions.

"Would you like to tell me why you are so angered?" She gave it a shot. After all, she wanted to know.

"I don't want to talk about it," Robin stated in a low menacing grunt. Raven felt a little uncomfortable after his response, she didn't want to press the matters anymore then they already seem to be doing.

"Okay…," she said fearfully. Since Robin was in no mood for talking, or rather than telling her what happened, she decides to find out where the others were.

"Do you know where the others are?" she asked calmly slow.

"Walking Silkie, in garage," he said or rather grumbled. Nonetheless, Raven understood what he said. With Robin's recent unnatural ability to speak, she pieced to together that Starfire was taking Silkie out while Cyborg was working on his car. However, he forgot someone.

"What about Beast Boy?" Robin's tension grew as his muscles stiffened. Raven could sense his anger rising dangerously high as she suddenly heard his teeth grinding soundly behind the noise of the television. Now, she was starting to get nervous.

"Alright…I'll find out later," he was like a time bomb that may go off any second. Therefore, to not try and fan the already rising flames, she quickly turned back to find Cyborg to see if he could give her any answers.

Raven exited the Ops, quickly paced towards the elevator, and went down the shaft all the way down to the underground sector of Titans' Tower. There she would find the garage and the underwater hanger to the T-ship. Raven stepped out of the elevator and took a sharp right into the Titan's personal garage, or nicknamed "Cy's Shop," since Cyborg was the only one who would stay in the garage for hours at a time. She saw Cyborg working on his car in silence. Besides the sounds of intense drilling and welding, she found this very strange that there was no sound, no music, or any kind of talking whatsoever, it disturbed her somewhat that Cyborg could work without his blaring music. Raven walked quietly towards him, Cyborg has the hood of the T-car propped up and seemed to be welding something within the engine.

"Cyborg?" Raven called in curiosity. Cyborg halted his welding and lifted his mask of metal from his head to get a clearer picture of Raven standing next to his car. He smiled.

"Oh, hey, Raven. Mind givin' me a hand?" Cyborg spoke in a seemingly fake cheerfulness that couldn't fool Raven. However, she shrugged her shoulders and decided to help him out; it was the only way she would be able to get some answers from him.

"What do you need?" she said as she walked towards the tool table.

"five eighths and a three quarters," Raven grabbed the necessary tools and hand them over to Cyborg. He immediately began working on upgrading his new engine, which left the two in a moderate silence. Cyborg continued to work on his car, and Raven continued to give and take tools from Cyborg. One thing that Raven did notice about Cyborg was that he kept working on the same part of his car. He kept re-doing the same repair to past the time, so to snap him out of it she decided to speak up.

"So, how long was I out?" Raven asked trying to make a conversation. Cyborg stopped bustling with his car to look up at her. He gave her a fake smile.

"Not long, only a few hours," he said.

"A lot can happen in a few hours," Cyborg drooped his head down, staring at the concrete of the garage, "and the last place I remember was the cruise ship," Cyborg started to tense.

"Why don't you go ask Robin to fill you in? I'm sure he'll have more information than I do. He has been watching the news ever since we got home," Cyborg said in his still fake voice.

"Robin is upset and in no mood to talk about what happened. Plus, Starfire is out, and Robin wouldn't tell me where Beast Boy is, so that leaves you," Raven hated being left in the dark about news that everyone else knew; she was already in the dark much of the time anyway, but when it came to important information that may cost innocent lives or the well-being of her friends, she wanted to know what was going on. Something didn't feel right either, Raven could sense how Cyborg was feeling, even if he was half-machine; anger, disappointment, even shock was illuminating from him, but what made her feel like something was wrong was when Cyborg was feeling betrayed, and that worried her a bit.

"Look, Raven, I…," he sighed, "I don't know what to tell you. Once you blacked out, everything just went wrong," Now, Raven was concerned.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Cyborg had to gather as much courage as he could to tell her the truth. It was hard for him, because not only they had failed to save so many lives, but also Raven would feel like it was her fault. He knew her too well not to know that. However, Raven needed to know the truth, but his heart was just not ready yet.

"I…really don't want to break this to you. Actually…I really don't want to talk about it at all right now," he looked up and saw disappointment written all over her face. Raven inhaled and decided to accept that answer from him.

"Alright, I can understand that, but can you at least tell me where Beast Boy is?" she asked him. Cyborg wasn't too quick to answer this question; it was another question he didn't want to answer, but he couldn't deprive her of both questions.

"He's in his room," Raven nodded.

"I'm going to see if I can talk to him," she said. Cyborg realized what she said and stopped her in her tracks.

"Wait," Raven turned around and he had her attention again, "When we came home afterwards, we found Beast Boy watching TV, and that's why Robin is furious right now. I've tried to get Beast Boy come out of his room all day to try to calm both of them down, but he just yells at me and says that he doesn't want to talk,"

"So, you want me to be careful?"

"Not just that, find out some answers first. Personally, I think he's hiding something from us,"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, something happened to him on that cruise ship that he doesn't want anyone to know about, he said that no one would understand," Raven understood and decided to go to him.

"I'll see what I can find out,"

Beast Boy typed away on his keyboard; he was searching for any clues that would lead to the mysterious changeling he met just hours earlier. He typed only one word in his search bar, a word that has haunted him most of his life, "_Sakutia._" He pressed enter. Beast Boy was not surprised that only one article appeared on the screen. He picked the article and began to read.

_**What is Sakutia?**_

_Sakutia, also known as "Green Fever," is a lethal and rare viral infection that can cause various nerve symptoms; Sakutia attacks the Central Nervous System. Once Sakutia enters the bloodstream the virus travels up the body and through the heart until it is exposed to the brain. Sakutia slowly takes over the brain by one section at a time._

_There are three stages of Sakutia that will ultimately lead to death if not treated immediately._

_First stage_: _Sakutia latches onto the brain stem and the pons. The patient's symptoms will be composed of loss of breath, weakness in muscle strength, high fever, high blood pressure, and the inability of digesting foods. A very likely sign is a green pigment around the area of infection in the skin. _

_Second stage:__ Sakutia takes over the cerebellum of the brain. The patient's symptoms are as follows: hallucinations, loss of balance and equilibrium, loss of voluntary motor movement, numbness in all lower and upper extremities (arms and legs), and a green discoloration of blood in the vessels that shows through the skin._

_Third stage:__ Sakutia is exposed to the cerebrum of the brain. At this point both the brain stem and the cerebellum have been permanently damaged. The patient's heart will stop at this stage at any given time._

_Sakutia can be misjudged as a common snakebite. Once infected with this disease the patient has no less than forty-eight hours to survive. However, as deadly and horrible this viral infection may be, there have only been seven cases of Sakutia known throughout the entire world. All seven patients were infected within the boundaries of middle Africa. _

_**Is there a cure for Sakutia?**_

_Of recent studies of Sakutia there is no cure for the disease, but there is one record of treatment. This treatment was an untested chemical link between the human and the common chimp to uncover the secret of universal immunity. The scientists that produced this link were the geneticists Mark and Marie Logan. This medication was used to treat their son, Garfield Logan, after unexpectedly receiving a bite from the Cercocebus virdis, otherwise known as the Green-capped Mangabey in the forest where their laboratory was located in Africa._

_There is no record to the whereabouts of Garfield Logan or if he is still alive today. He was last seen in Africa before his depart to the United States after the tragic death of his parents in a boat accident two years after his treatment._

_Dr. Samuel Register is the latest scientist in heading the research for a cure for Green Fever. However, after recent events, Dr. Register has been disapproved on the project after federal discoveries have been made in his lab in unorthodox procedures and illegal human testing of dangerous cures. Unofficial information has it that Dr. Samuel Register transferred to STAR labs and heads the Control of Supernatural Diseases department for the past five years._

_This article was presented to you by STAR Laboratories. _

Beast Boy leaned back in his chair, but later regretted it. He yelped loudly in pain when he sat up straight by reaction.

"Sounds like that hurt," his heart jumped in surprise at the sound of a voice from behind. He quickly turned around to find Raven leaning against the tween of his doorway. Beast Boy furrowed his brows giving her a dirty look. Raven felt his annoyance grow inside of him, but kept her ground firm.

"You of all people should know how to respect common privacy of others," he said intentionally.

"It's nice to see you're okay too, Beast Boy," Raven fully walked into his room and shut the door behind her. She leaned up against the door as Beast Boy moved to lie down on his bottom bunk.

"Humph, what do you want anyway? Come to yell at me too?" he very rudely said.

"I don't know what happened, so I can't yell at you even if I really wanted to," Raven lifted herself up from his door and sat down at his computer to try to talk with him better. Beast Boy was laying stomach down on his bed facing away from her and staring at his bedroom wall. Silence overcame them for a short time, for Raven was trying to think of what to say without getting him too upset as Cyborg warned. She can see why.

"So, um, I'm a little…hazy on the details; do you mind telling me what happened?" Beast Boy still faced his bedroom wall.

"Why don't you ask someone else? I'm sure they'll be happy to explain it," he said sarcastically. Raven rolled her eyes.

"Everyone has left me in the dark, and everyone is still upset about it too. I'm starting to worry a little," she said to his bare bandaged back. Beast Boy was dead silent. Great, he thought, they didn't tell her; now I have to break the news, what a great bunch of friends I have. He didn't want to tell her, and didn't have to tell her, that was his choice and he decided to keep his silence unless she asked for it.

"How many survived?" she asked quickly, pulling the pieces together since he wasn't going to do it for her.

"Only the few that you and Starfire saved,"

"What about the other ship that came?"

"It went down when the cruise ship exploded,"

"So…all those people…,"

"…were sent to the depths of Davy Jones' Locker," After he said this, she asked no more questions.

Beast Boy was expecting some kind of response from her. However, he wasn't waiting for her to scream or yell or anything, that wasn't what Raven would do. He was expecting a gasp, maybe a little squeak, or she would shift her weight around, but all he had was dead silence. He heard nothing for several seconds, he guessed he shouldn't be surprised by that, but he wondered…could she really be that cruel not to care about that loss? Or was she taking a moment of silence? Either way he was waiting for to say something. He heard her take in a deep breath.

"Well…we can't undo what's been done, it's all in the past now," She's accepting it? How can she accept the fact that the Titans failed in their mission and lost thousands of lives in that ocean? Plus, she just moves on as if nothing happened within those few seconds of silence? He was angry. He was angry with her. She really was a demon after all, he thought.

"I should've held out longer," He heard her speak, and he slowly lifted himself up and over his shoulder to see where she was. Raven was standing next to his window gazing at the waters outside, the sun was setting and it was getting dark out there, "I could've gathered more strength and I could have carried more people or something," She moved away from the window and sat back down, "I just…can't believe that many lost their lives within a small amount of time,"

"All of us had fault in this, don't just blame yourself," Raven looked up at him, he had his back turned, she furrowed her brows at that comment he made, "Don't go beating yourself over it anyway; I've already taken most of the heat,"

"I guess Robin is a little upset about the whole thing," she responded.

"'A little' is an understatement," he said under his breath. Raven nodded her head in agreement, and relaxed her eyes on her palms

"Cyborg said that he's been watching the news ever since we returned home," she looked up from her hands, and noticed that his back was still turned. She hoped that he was still listening, "I can't say I blame him, now that I know why,"

"I heard the media knocking on our front door already," After Beast Boy had said this, there was a long silent pause. Raven had run out of things to say, and she really didn't want to stay on this subject for long. Plus, she was incredibly surprised that he had allowed her to be in his room for so long. Maybe he has cooled down a bit from this morning, but her emotional magnet of a mind was telling her otherwise. He was still angry, and she felt tons of hatred for Robin coming from him. There was really nothing she could do to calm that emotion down; Robin must have really blown all out at him. The next thing that Raven knew she had to do was start a different subject to get his mind off this cruise ship tragedy.

"So, you want to finish our talk?" she asked him shyly.

"What?" he turned around completely looking confused.

"I said do you want to finish our talk?" a slight pause was enough for Raven to know that Beast Boy was still confused, "You said you wanted to talk later this morning. Well, it's now later, do you still want to finish what we started?"

Raven figured that finishing their earlier conversation would help her get some answers that will fulfill both hers and Cyborg's questions about his recent attitude and behavior lately. Beast Boy finally understood what she was talking about, but turned his back on her again and lay back down on his bunk.

"No," Raven was slightly surprised.

"Why not?" Raven tried to sound as sincere as possible, and she tried not to give him the wrong idea.

"Because I'm not in the mood," he said.

"Well…how so?" she came back. Raven really wanted him to talk to her, and not just for her sake.

"Because I don't know if I tell you my secrets that you're going to go blabbing to everyone else," Beast Boy began to get aggravated; Raven could feel it.

"I can assure you, Beast Boy, that I'm not that kind of person, and I won't tell anyone,"

"No offense, Raven, but I don't think I can even trust you," this statement felt like a pin needle against her heart. She was trying to be his friend, and he can't even trust her. What kind of friend is that if they can't share just one secret?

"Well…why not? What did I do?" she said. Beast Boy sat up and propped himself on his pillow and began to count off on his fingers.

"Well, for one, you insult me. You abuse me, emotionally and physically. You don't have any respect for me as a person or even as a friend. You never want to do the things that I want to do. You treat me as if I'm some bad little kid that needs to be bossed around, and you ignore me to no end. So right now, Raven, I don't consider you a person of trust,"

Raven was silent, and she lowered her head in disappointment for herself. She didn't realize how she has treated him over the years they've been on this team. However, she couldn't just blame herself. Beast Boy played a major part in their daily conflict too. He would always try to start something to get a rise out of her that would ultimately lead to Beast Boy getting his can kicked. Besides, how else was she going to get him quiet? The verbal and more calm way wasn't getting through his skull. So, she felt like she had no other choice sometimes, after all she is half-human. Plus, he says Raven doesn't have respect for common privacy? He should talk, because Beast Boy is the one who interrupts her reading for the most silliest things. So, Raven shouldn't blame herself for his pain, no. Beast Boy brought this onto himself. However, she decided to go ahead and apologize for everything that she did do to him.

"I guess I deserve that," she said in her usual low neutral tone, "I have done all those things to you, but at least I'm trying to redeem myself by talking to you now," he gave her no response, she could feel that he was thinking deeply, "tell me what you're feeling."

"You wouldn't understand, no one does,"

"Well, I don't understand now, but if you could--,"

"Don't you get it Raven? I don't want to talk! I don't want you in here and I don't want you--ack!" Beast Boy turned around a little too quickly for his tastes, grabbed his lower back, and fell down onto his bunk bed again. He slowly massaged his bandages, putting pressure on his wounds, and he was groaning in pain. Raven moved closer to sit next to him on his bunk, and she attempted to heal him.

"Don't touch me," he growled. He grabbed a hold of her hand to prevent her from healing him. Raven was offended.

"I'm only trying to help you," she reasoned.

"I don't need your help; I can heal on my own," Beast Boy moved away from her, sitting on his bed and keeping his back away from her, "why can't you just go away!"

"Forgive me for having a sense of worry for the well-being of one of my friends," she said getting angered. Raven didn't want to spend any more time in his room if he wasn't going to appreciate her help. She lifted herself up from his bed and walked towards his door. Beast Boy gave a low growl at her as if she was a predator. Raven stopped at his door.

"Beast Boy, I hope you realize that I was only trying to help you, and it doesn't matter if I don't understand or not, at least I would listen, unlike others. If you insist on treating me as you are now, then you can guarantee that I won't offer anything to you again, because, in my opinion, you don't deserve it," and she shut the door behind her.

Raven walked down the hallway to get far away from Beast Boy's room, but unfortunate for her, her bedroom was right next to his, so she couldn't go very far. However, she decided to go to the Ops. to see what everyone else was doing. She had spent a good thirty minutes in his room, she wondered if Starfire had returned from walking Silkie, she also wondered if Robin had calm down enough to talk to. Raven entered the Ops. to find all of the Titans sitting on the sofa watching the television. Cyborg was the first to notice she had walked in the room.

"So, how'd it go?" Raven walked towards the kitchen, after that she needed some tea.

"I think he needs to be slapped in the face at least a dozen times until he gets a nose bleed,"

"That bad, huh?" Cyborg asked with his arm over the sofa, watching her boil her water, "Well, it wouldn't be so bad if Robin hadn't threaten to kick him off the team," Raven's head perked up.

"He what?"

"Oh, yeah, you were still out of it," Cyborg said. Robin turned himself to Cyborg.

"What else was I suppose to do?" Robin argued.

"You could have reasoned with him instead of yelling at him, makin' him feel even more lousy,"

"He didn't feel anything, he could care less!"

"You still should have reasoned with him," Raven broke this argument, and took Cyborg's side. She made her tea and sat down with everyone on the sofa. Starfire nodded her head at Raven's response.

"Agreed. Robin you shouldn't have yelled at him. He has been on this team as long as all of us. We have become a family here in our times together, and you were about to take that away from him when you said that you wanted his communicator," Robin sighed, he hated it sometimes when his girlfriend was right, "we wouldn't want to wish that on any on our comrades, no matter what wrongs they have caused,"

"You're right," Robin felt low saying this, it was another pet peeve of his, being wrong, "…you're right," Starfire took his gloved hand into hers, and he began to think about the matters at hand, "Then…I guess our next step is to try to talk to him, as friends, instead of teammates. We need to know why he's acting this way, and what exactly is he feeling to make him act this way," The others agreed, Robin thought about what they should to try to execute this plan, "Raven, did you feel anything from Beast Boy that was unusual?"

"I couldn't," she replied promptly.

"You couldn't?" Robin asked.

"His anger was so loud that it masked any other emotions that he may be experiencing. The only other way that I would be able to identify any unusual emotions would to touch his mind and absorb his feelings," she finished and took a sip of her tea. Robin understood the tasks, and everyone knows that no matter how upset Robin will get, he will do anything to keep this team, this family, together.

"We may have to arrange that somehow later,"

Beast Boy removed the syringe from his arm and placed the bottle of medicine back into the white cabinet. He held the syringe in his hand as he began to clean it aggressively. Beads of sweat were rolling down his green face faster and faster with every negative thought that crossed his mind. He finished cleaning and placed everything back in it's proper place. He placed his forehead against the cool white wall before him in the infirmary and attempted to relax his troubled mind, but nothing seem to work. He growled in frustration and hit his fist against the wall.

"Why am I so hot?" he began to take off his shirt to try to cool off, but the window caught his eye. He walked over to it and gazed upon the view on the other side. He saw the moon glistening against the cold waves of the ocean. But then, an idea struck him, "I think I'll go for a swim."

**To be continued...**

**Okay, if that wasn't PAINFULLY obvious who the villain is, I mean seriously I just gave it away like three times, then you need to re-take you're already failing literature class. **


	5. Ch 4: Numb

Yeah...um...I know it's been awhile, but when you're trying to pass school, (assist.)directing a play, designing a play program, trying to complete scholarships, and trying to be punctual to work...fan fiction just seems to slip the mind. But, here it is at last! Techincally, chapter five! It only took me four months. And I graduate in three months, so expect a chapter or two around that time. So, thank you for being with me this far! You guys make this possible!

* * *

**The Beast Returns: Chapter 4**

A week had passed since the tragic cruise ship catastrophe took place near the Jump City's ocean shores, and more news stations couldn't wait to get their gritty hands on the story. The Titans did their best to lie low during these events. Robin commanded a lock down, and that no titan was allowed to leave the island without proper disguise. Cyborg began to work on a new project that would give all the Titans the chance to leave the Tower whenever they please without the press jamming microphones down their throats. Cyborg's original prototype holographic rings went back to the drawing boards to create five new rings that accustomed to the other Titans. So, Starfire could still go to the mall, Robin could still _join_ Starfire in going to the mall, Raven could still go to the bookstore, and Cyborg could still go to the auto shop without any notice. Only one Titan disproved of the idea, but he hasn't left the Tower the entire week, which was an abnormality to the other Titans.

Beast Boy has avoided everyone at all costs, and the others have notice this but have yet to press the matter further, not that Beast Boy cared. After the second day of this awareness, Robin warned the others not to pressure Beast Boy so he won't be tempered. Which was fine with everyone else, but the deed was hard to accomplish because Beast Boy was never around. When Beast Boy sits in the Operations or hangs out on top of the roof or the gym, he quickly halts his activities and leaves the room immediately when one of his friends walks into the room. The Titans had the sinking feeling that he was definitely avoiding them, but not to rile him up, they said nothing. It felt heartbreaking to the others that Beast Boy would issue a silent treatment and not give a reason for it, and the tension in the Tower was thickening because of it. In the past week, the other Titans notice how different Beast Boy acted during the day, when they had the chances to observe him.

Beast Boy never came down for any meals anymore. When this routine started, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven would wait patiently for Beast Boy to come down because they enjoyed eating together as a team, yes. Even Raven enjoyed this, for no one ever knew what the next day would bring whether it was victory or disaster. However, he never showed, and the problem got to a point where Cyborg felt guilty and made Beast Boy's food for him, but Cyborg would end up placing it in the fridge. Robin constantly wondered how Beast Boy was getting his food without coming down. Therefore, Robin felt worried that Beast Boy would not be able to get the proper nutrients to stay in shape.

Another strange act from Beast Boy is that he suddenly became very punctual for combat practice, and he hasn't missed one yet. It was strange because out of all the times to ignore the others, Beast Boy makes it a priority to make it to the main group activity of the day. Beast Boy never said a word during the entire time, and the Titans never tried to make a conversation.

Recently, Robin began to test the Titans in a more digital way in combat practice. Instead of watching the team run through the course from afar, now Robin can see what they can endure during their runs and strategize how to make the team even stronger in battles. The solution? The state-of-the-art 99.9 accurate portable wire-less heart monitor wristband, courtesy of Cyborg, of course.

Beast Boy arrived down on the field where everyone else began to gather. Beast Boy walked straight to the control booth, and he saw that Robin and Raven were already in position ready to go. Robin gave Beast Boy a strange look and Beast Boy returned him a small growl; then Robin finally tossed him his heart monitor.

The countdown was initiated and Beast Boy was off. Beast Boy ran across the obstacle course at high speed, and he transformed into different species of animals at the drop of a hat. He turned over robots, he passed through falling walls, he smashed cardboard dummies, and he dodged red-hot lasers. Robin noticed his intense change in practice as he watched on. Beast Boy improved his abilities everyday, and Robin felt impressed, yet extremely worried at the same time.

"Raven, come look at this," Robin took a glance at Beast Boy's gauge on the computer screen.

"What is it?" Raven said as she walked over.

"Take a look at his heart rate," he pointed to a certain scale and number on the side of the screen. Raven studied it for a moment, and she saw that his levels were normal. There was nothing wrong at all.

"Okay," she said.

"Now look at what he's enduring in the course," Raven lifted up her eyes to the green changeling battling it out on the obstacle course, he punched several robots in the air and dodged some electrical disks coming at him simultaneously. She still didn't understand.

"What about it?" she questioned.

"The level of the obstacle course is set on an automatic frequency, that way the difficulty of the obstacle course will change with difference in endurance levels between two people automatically. So, when a new person steps up to the starting point, that person may experience the course to be either harder or easier in the beginning. It depends on who went before them," Robin explained.

"Okay, I already knew that, but go on," Raven commented sarcastically.

"I noticed that in the beginning of Beast Boy's run that he breezed through it with ease until the obstacle course started to find his proper difficulty level. And now, the level that it is currently set on is actually higher than his usual endurance level. In fact, it's set higher than Cyborg's," Robin stated suspiciously.

"I still don't understand why this is strange," Raven asked.

"Because his heart rate and stress levels are normal, and yet just last week he said that he was going to pass out from all the exercises. Not to mention he misses meals on a constant basis, yet he excels in combat practice?" Robin finally pointed out, "it's just strange,"

"Well, what's the normal level that he usually endures?" Raven asked.

"Level ten," he replied.

"And what's he enduring now?"

"Level twenty-one," Raven finally saw his point, "and this is remarkable because he's only nine levels away from maxing out the computer," She looked at the monitor again, and then gazed upon Beast Boy hard at work out there. She did see a difference, a big one in fact, in his combat training. Beast Boy moved faster, concentrated harder, and was…serious. And that was never a good sign when Beast Boy was serious.

"Well, he has been improving a lot lately,"

"True, but within a week? That's just unheard of," Robin replied.

"Maybe he's finally found a passion for his job as a superhero,"

"I just hope he hasn't found his passion the wrong way," Robin said. Raven agreed. The buzzer went off to stop the time, and Beast Boy halted and left the field immediately to head back up to the Tower. Beast Boy didn't care to look that his time was a 1:10. Therefore, he didn't care to see Cyborg's face sink after realizing that he just broke Cyborg's precious record.

"I think it's about time we talk to him," Robin spoke. Raven glanced around.

"Do you think he's ready?" she asked uncertainly.

"No, not at all, but we need to know if he's hurting himself, and if so, then we need to intervene," Robin replied.

"Good," Robin glanced at Raven with a confused stare behind his mask.

"Good?" he questioned.

"I've kept my attention towards Beast Boy ever since the cruise ship incident. You know, just in case he ever decided to cool down. But every time I see him, and ever time he walks through a room…it feels like he's not there anymore. Like he's suddenly a different person," Raven said. She and Robin were watching Beast Boy walk towards the hill to the Tower. Raven could feel his tension and his hate blazing from his heart. It bothered her deeply.

"I'm worried about him," she thought accidentally aloud.

"How so?" Robin asked. Raven gave a slow sigh.

"His anger hasn't faded at all this past week, and I haven't had a clear thought go through my head since. He doesn't speak to us, he doesn't eat with us, and he's especially never around us," she said. She furrowed her brows slightly and tried to organize her thoughts, "Something is happening with him and I want to know what, because I don't want him to end up with a similar fate like mine,"

"You've thought a lot about this, haven't you?" Robin asked. Raven gazed forward with the sinking feeling inside of her. Her eyes looked upon the ocean and the ocean reflected the frown on her face. Robin didn't have special mind powers, but he could sense that this problem with Beast Boy was bothering her.

"I would never wish for this curse of barren emotion to befall upon any of you," she confined, "especially Beast Boy,"

Cyborg finished his run and Starfire began to position herself for her own. After Starfire, Raven usually went next, so she began to walk towards the stairs from the booth to join the others in their combat training. Robin watched her exit the station and walk down the stairs.

Cyborg whistled down the hallway when he opened the door to the elevators the next morning. Everyone was up and getting breakfast while Cyborg was trying to find his lucky wrench that he accidentally misplaced. Cyborg never worked on his car without his lucky wrench. The last time he upgraded his car without that lucky wrench, it randomly blew up in the Jump City streets in front of the pizza parlor. He never touched his car without it.

"Now I know I left it somewhere in this tower," he said to himself. He retraced his steps all over again in his mind. Was it in the kitchen? No, he used it once to tighten a squeaky bolt in the microwave and then placed it in his arm. How about the gym? Nope, he used it there to tighten the punching bag to the ceiling better because of a squeaky bolt. The evidence room? Nuh-ah, used it there to fix the glass panes on Control freak's remote, all thanks to a squeaky bolt.

"Jeez, we have a lot of squeaky bolts in this tower," He moved his arm up closer and pressed the secret compartment in his chest open. Then, he quickly stopped himself by slapping his forehead. "C'mon Cyborg, if the dang wrench was in there in the first place you wouldn't be in this dumb elevator lookin' for it to begin with," He sighed at his lack of common sense.

Well, there could only be one other place Cyborg may have used it and misplaced it at the same time, and that's the infirmary. Robin had a computer malfunction in there after trying to treat Starfire to some unidentified alien disease, which caused her to puke strange pudding slugs; she ultimately got better the next day. However, the Titans were without a computer to monitor vitals in there, so it was an important machine to be restored.

The elevator halted at level one and opened the doors. Cyborg stepped out into the corridor and opened the door to the infirmary that was across the hall. He started whistling again, so he did not notice Beast Boy placing a few special things inside a small shoebox on the other side of the room. When Cyborg heard Beast Boy quickly shut the top of his box, he stopped whistling.

"Oh, uh…hey, BB," Cyborg said, and he went straight to high alert mode, "I, um…didn't see you there, heh…" he cleared his throat, "You haven't um…seen my good wrench anywhere in here have ya?"

"No," Cyborg looked up at Beast Boy's shocking low-toned remark. His voice almost did not sound human. It was low, dark, and mysterious like he had a good secret to hide, and Cyborg had a faint idea that the secret was hidden inside that shoebox. However, what captured Cyborg's attention the most is how awful Beast Boy looked. His jade green hair grew disheveled, his skin looked pale and clammy, and he had dark, hollow bags under his eyes, but what was almost too surreal to believe was that Beast Boy had five o'clock shadow and it was noon. However, he looked…defined? Weird…Cyborg notice that Beast Boy looked taller and that his muscles were a bit more toned and well, muscular. That threw him off for a moment, but the way he carried himself and the way he expressed his face made Cyborg feel sympathy for him, after all Beast Boy is his best friend.

"Hey, man, are you alright?" he asked softly, "and…I mean no disrespect, but…you look awful," Beast Boy backed away and stiffened.

"What do you care?" Beast Boy growled.

"Nothin', nothin', I didn't mean anythin' by it," Cyborg raised his hands in defense, "I just…wanted to help,"

Beast Boy still kept his guard up, and he did not move. Not that he had much of a choice, Cyborg was blocking the door. Well, Cyborg sensed that it was time to move to a different subject because Beast Boy wasn't about to let him help him with his physical problems.

"So, uh…what's in the box?" Cyborg asked, Beast Boy growled at him. Cyborg got on his guard.

"None of your business," and Beast Boy walked passed him leaving Cyborg speechless.

Raven breezed through the power-pressured door into the Ops. later that afternoon. She had the sudden craving for tea while reading on of her more recent novels. She noticed that none of the Titans were here, but she figured that she wasn't that far ahead. The others would be there in a few moments and begin to snoop about for some lunch.

Raven figured that she might as well boil her a pot of water before Cyborg takes command over the stove again. She knew that water never boils while she's watching it, so she sat down on the sofa and decided to take advantage of the alone time she had while she could. She only heard the small breath of air escaping her mouth as she relaxed even more into the cushion. She opened her book and began to read.

Like her meditation, reading was always an escape from reality for her. That's why her reading time was always important. Therefore, she read at every waking moment. However, there was always something happening to snap her out of her fantasy reading. Like the alarm going off, her friends busting through the door to look for food, Cyborg and Beast Boy playing video games, Beast Boy fighting Cyborg about tofu, Beast Boy cracking a joke, or most likely just Beast Boy. Uh oh, here comes that guilty feeling again.

She stopped reading her second paragraph and closed the book. Great, of all the times she had to start feeling guilty it had to be when she actually had a moment's peace to herself. Well, Raven couldn't help feeling this way. Her friends did mean everything to her, and with Beast Boy's new attitude and him avoiding everyone, she couldn't help but feel worried.

All this week, Raven was able to accomplish everything she wanted to do without Beast Boy around. Raven finished her meditation without interruptions, she tried out several new flavored herbal teas, which she had to go to the store for and she never had time for that, and she finished three books within one week. This is what she wanted right? Then why did she feel guilty and slightly alone?

Raven felt that she needed to talk to him. Everything that was going on just wasn't right. Beast Boy was always the happy one. So, at the same time that Raven felt slightly happier, this bad feeling inside of her just hit rock bottom. Now, she didn't want to read any longer. She wondered where he could be right now, and if she could go talk to him by herself.

Feeling rather low all of a sudden, Raven stood up and walked over to the ceiling-floor windows and leaned against the wall to gaze at the afternoon setting city. The sun was just high enough not to see it in the sky but bright enough to reflect off the ocean's waves.

That's when she saw a figure standing at the shores of Titan Tower's island below. There was a glare in the window, and Raven had to do a double take to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating. At first, she thought it was Robin, the silhouette was tall enough and muscular enough to be him. However, when she saw this figure transform shape and jump into the ocean, she concluded that it definitely wasn't Robin, it was indeed Beast Boy.

Raven moved over a bit to get rid of the glare of the sun in the window and continued to watch the spot where Beast Boy once stood. She thought that Beast Boy was just taking an afternoon dip, in the ocean, in the high afternoon, by himself. One could hope right? Raven knew that this could take awhile since Beast Boy did have the ability to breathe underwater, but she would wait, she wanted to know what he was doing.

Suddenly a wolf popped out of the water carrying something that was frantically moving inside his mouth. Raven pieced together that Beast Boy had…caught a fish? His wolf form shook his head violently left and right trying to silence the creature. Then the wolf did something that stunned Raven so much that she fell short of breath and looked away in disgust. The wolf began to eat the fish. She saw him crack the spine, chew the muscle, and swallow it whole. The entire scene sickened her. Besides the reason that Raven couldn't stand raw fish, it was the fact that Beast Boy, the animal-loving tofu-eating vegetarian, was killing and eating a live creature.

After he finished eating, Beast Boy transformed back into his human form. He wiped his mouth with his forearm and tossed the meatless fish behind a large rock close to the water. Beast Boy began to walk away and head back to the Tower, Raven watched him the entire time, and she noticed how different he really was now. It scared her, that even Beast Boy could change so suddenly and so unexpected that he could never come back to his normal self.

Once Beast Boy was inside the tower, Raven decided to do a little investigating. She disappeared from the window and magically reappeared in front of the rock with her black aurora fading away. Raven's eyes widened at the sight shown before her. She had to place her hand over her nose to stop the smell coming from the pile of dead rotting fish beneath the large boulder.

Beast Boy removed the syringe from the underside of his arm as he sat on his bottom bunk in his more than usual messy room. He gave a silent sigh of relief and placed the small plastic tube back in his shoebox tucked safely underneath his bed.

Once everything was put away, he sat there in silence, thinking. Thinking of what has become of him these days, thinking of his friends and how much they have avoided him lately, thinking about that mysterious changeling he met on the ship. All these thoughts brought negative feelings to his heart, but by the end of the day, these negative thoughts would get so heavy and so consuming that it would make him angry. Therefore, by making him angry he would have this urge. This strange lustful urge, an urge that involved action, it involved running, and it involved killing. It was a primitive urge, and this feeling alone scared him.

The only thing keeping him sane was the medication that he was taking. Ever since he first injected it into himself he felt relief that maybe this monster inside of him was finally gone. Eventually, he would get that urge again, and that would tell him that the monster was indeed still alive inside of him. Afterwards, he took more and more, until it consumed his daily life and he became addicted to it.

He couldn't let his friends know what he was doing to himself, for they wouldn't understand. They would judge him too quickly at first sight and think he's some drug addict trying it out for fun, but what they don't know is that Beast Boy is doing them a favor. He's making himself more mature, and to him he's finally becoming a man. And he knew that's what his friends wanted from him; to grow up, and become more like them. However, things are easier said than done. This task was stressing out his mentality so much that he couldn't stand to see the others even look at him. Therefore, he felt alone, but he didn't want anyone to see him, so his emotional state was pulled so far that he couldn't feel anything…except rage.

He had rage for everything it seemed like, and even he noticed this, but he didn't know why. Everything his friends did, everything that he did, everything that normal people he hasn't even met before did just pissed him off more. He hated the world and had no reason for it. However, he did have a reason for someone, and that particular someone was that special guest on the cruise ship dining hall. Beast Boy wanted to find this…man…he wanted to hunt him down, and he wanted to release all his pure malice on him.

Beast Boy suddenly started to massage his temples with his fingers to sooth the huge headache coming on. Beast Boy started to sweat and breathe heavily in and out. He needed to calm himself down.

He slowly took out a slip of smooth silk paper. He glided the picture between his finger and thumb until it set in his hand upright. It displayed three people standing together in front of a single green tree with a lion under it in the plain lands. One person was a tall well-built man with short curved blonde hair. He had a smile that was so wide it stretched ear to ear. Next to this man was a woman, she was a thin woman with long brunette hair. Her smile was a small shy one as the man had his arm wrapped around her. The woman held a small young child in her arms. The toddler had light blonde hair like his father's while he playfully waved to the camera taking the picture. As Beast Boy gazed upon this old photograph, he couldn't help but shed a few tears for his loss. He missed his parents dearly.

Suddenly, he heard loud knocking on his door.

"Beast Boy! Come out! We're having a team meeting!" Robin's voice shouted through the other side of the door. Beast Boy growled from the inside and at first ignored him. However, he knew how stubborn Robin is, and he knew that Robin would get what he wants one way or another. He figured he shouldn't open the door because Robin isn't worth interrupting his moment of silence.

"Beast Boy! I know you're in there! You can't stay in there forever!" Beast Boy rolled his eyes, and he knew he wasn't going to get out of this. Now, he knew how Raven felt in that moment when he would knock on her door. Finally, Beast Boy opened the door, and Robin was face to face with him. Robin wasn't expecting Beast Boy to come out so easily, and after all that yelling to try to get him out, Robin didn't have anything to say to him, so he just stood there. Beast Boy snorted and walked passed him to the Ops. where they usually have their team meetings.

Beast Boy opened the door to the Ops. and found the other three Titans sitting on the sofa waiting for him. Cyborg and Starfire turned around and stood up in front of him while Robin walked through the door behind Beast Boy; Raven just sat on the sofa looking at the ground. Silence spread throughout the room like the plague against their tongues, for everyone was waiting for somebody to speak out. However, the question is who was brave enough to do so?

"Please sit down, Beast Boy," Starfire, brave Starfire spoke first. Beast Boy didn't like her tone, and it wasn't because she was rude, he just didn't like the fact that perky Starfire could be so quiet. However, he obeyed her words and sat down at the end of the sofa away from everybody else. Robin came in and stood behind everyone on the sofa. Getting annoyed by the awkward silence that hung in the air, Beast Boy spoke first.

"So, what's this about?" he said. The Titans bowed their heads slightly.

"We are concerned," Starfire continued, but she didn't continue afterwards. Beast Boy lifted his brow in slight confusion.

"Okay…what about?" He relaxed into the back of the sofa and crossed his arms and legs. The Titans all glanced at each other and an unsettling feeling spread across everyone's chest.

"We're concerned about you, B," Cyborg replied.

"Me?" he said, "Well, I can assure you that there's nothing wrong with me,"

"Well, something wrong is going on here, and we would like and explanation," Robin stated simply, keeping his cool.

"You're just not yourself anymore, B," Cyborg said. He bowed his head forward, "We barely talk anymore,"

"And your behavior has been very strange lately," Starfire commented, this was a first for Beast Boy to see Starfire so concerned and serious, "we would just like to know if there is anything upsetting you, and if we can do anything to help you,"

Beast Boy looked at them all. Robin had this stiff look on his face, like he was holding something back inside him, and the way his body was positioned and how his face was contorted it seemed he wanted to let it go deeply. Cyborg watched Beast Boy with sad and desperate eyes; he looked defeated which didn't faze Beast Boy at all. Starfire was waiting patiently for an answer, so she kept her head forward and she didn't have a smile on her face. Beast Boy gazed over to Raven. She wasn't even looking at him, and he actually noticed when he walked through the door that she didn't even try to make eye contact with him like the others did. This seemed nerving to Beast Boy. Was she too good to look at him? Or too afraid? He though it was the first one, simply because of how the way he thinks she acts.

"No, nothing," Beast Boy stated simply, "We done?" he started to stand up.

"No, we're not," Robin said defiantly, "sit down," Beast Boy sat back down.

"Fine, continue," Beast Boy blew him off. Robin furrowed his brow.

"We're concerned Beast Boy, but we're more confused than worried," Robin said. He walked to the side of the sofa.

"Yeah, why the sudden change?" Cyborg asked.

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked confused.

"Man, you don't eat with us, we hear strange noises coming from your bedroom, we barely see ya, and when we do see ya, you either walk away or snap at us. You're just not yourself anymore," Cyborg replied.

"But besides all the disappearances and attitude change, you seem to be very punctual to combat practice, and you excel at it," Robin pointed out.

"What's your point?" Beast Boy asked gruffly. He didn't like the attitude that Robin was giving him. Robin took in a deep breath.

"What are you doing to yourself?"

"What?" Beast Boy shocked that he asked.

"Robin," Starfire warned.

"No, let him finish," Beast Boy commanded. Robin walked around further in front of the sofa.

"Lack of eating, thriving in combat practice, sudden change in attitude, you are doing something that we don't know about, and you can't hide it any longer. So, answer the question. What're you doing to yourself?" Robin asked again crossing his arms.

"Robin, enough," Cyborg commanded. He looked back to Beast Boy again, "Look, B, we just…want to know what's going on that's all,"

Beast Boy stared at them all, unmoved by their words and completely surprised that they finally had the guts to talk to him. But this confused him the most, they thought that something was wrong with _him_. He knew that there was nothing wrong with him. The team only hallucinated something being wrong with him, when it was them who had the real problem. Beast Boy believed that they just couldn't take the truth.

"So…this is how it goes, huh?" Beast Boy said simply, "you know, I think I could relate this to a problematic conflict from a crappy soap opera. I'm sure you guys have totally seen it. It's the one where the family gangs up on brother because they suddenly assume that he's is addicted to drugs or something," he stood up, "but what's so great about that conflict is the irony of it. It turns out that he's _not_ addicted to drugs and he's _not_ doing anything to hurt himself. But, they sit down have a 'family conversation' while he tries to convince the others that he's _not_ a drug addict, but what happens? Uh-oh! They don't believe him! So, he decides to run away, maybe join the bad crowd to teach his family a lesson, and he decides to add a bonus and he take drugs just to tick them off some more. Wow, who would have guessed that would _ever_ happen!"

Beast Boy was obviously toying with the other Titans, he was angry at them. Beast Boy believed that they would never understand or believe in him, and especially since they've never made an effort to say anything to him before this. The others didn't know what to say to this, Robin kept his expression firmed, both Cyborg and Starfire listened and bowed their head a little more with every word that came out of Beast Boy's mouth, and then Raven started rubbing her temples as beads of sweat started to form around her crown.

"So," Beast Boy finally sat down, calming down a bit, "I don't really feel like confessing anything to any of you and wasting my precious energy when I know none of you will believe me anyway. So, I'm not going to say another word," Beast Boy furrowed his brows and revealed a sharp aggressive stare.

Robin tensed at Beast Boy's strong look of anger; he wanted to just let out what was on his mind desperately. The others were, like Robin too, disappointed in Beast Boy's answer. They obviously knew that they weren't going to get much more information out of him, unless they wanted to push it out of Beast Boy the hard way. But their hearts were too sunk to do such a thing to him at this point. Then, they all sat there in silence, unfortunately the Titans didn't know what to say to the green changeling, so the green changeling was getting impatient; if they were done they needed to stop wasting his time. Beast Boy kept tapping his fingers against the cushions of the sofa. Beast Boy allowed one more look around at all the Titans, he noticed how fragile they are taking this situation, he studied their facial features and how they seem so degenerated and confused. Beast Boy rolled his eyes at them, and he secretly wished that they would get over it.

"We done now?" Beast Boy asked again, but this time with more aggression in his voice. Cyborg took in a deep breath, and thought about what to answer to that question.

"No, we're not," Cyborg said, "There's…still the cruise ship…that we have to talk about,"

"Oh, great," Beast Boy groaned sarcastically, and rolled his eyes once again.

"We just want to know what happened with you over there," Cyborg replied reasonably. Beast Boy groaned again.

"Man, what does it matter?" Beast Boy sat up, "I was sent down to the bottom of the ship to keep it stable. And it looks like that I wasn't strong enough, brave enough, or smart enough to do it. Well, lemme just tell you, that it wasn't my fault; somebody just made one wrong decision," Beast Boy looked in Raven's direction, still tapping his finger. Raven didn't dare look at him, so she just kept rubbing her temples.

"Beast Boy, everything that you did on that ship does matter," Robin stated, "because everything you did has to be a reason to why we failed that mission," When Beast Boy heard Robin say this, he took this extremely offensive.

"So, that's it then," Beast Boy raised his voice and stood up, "you're gonna blame me for everything that happened? It's now suddenly it's…_my fault_ that we _all_ failed? Well, screw you! Screw all of you!" Beast Boy walked over to Robin staring him down.

"I am _not_ the only one responsible for this tragedy, everyone in this room is responsible! So, you pinning it on me is not helping anyone! And if anyone in this room has to take blame for what happened on that ship, it should be you, Robin!"

"What?" Robin glared.

"You talk to me about stepping up and being a man, but you should talk! You're the leader of this team, and you should represent it by taking most of the responsibility of those decisions that were made. And NOT blaming the cause on me because you think I'm too juvenile to think any better! At least I'm being man enough to take some the blame! Unlike you, Boy Wonder," Beast Boy poked him in the chest.

"Don't talk to me about leading a team," Robin said menacingly. Beast Boy got closer.

"Then don't talk to me about being a man because I'm twice the man that you will ever be," Beast Boy growled.

"If you are so man enough, as you say you are Beast Boy, then admit it," Robin said slowly, "what happened to you on that cruise ship?"

Beast Boy was silenced. He wasn't about to spill everything that happened on that day. His plan was to keep his experience with the changeling to himself, and find that villain himself. So Beast Boy could hunt him down, knock his lights out, and receive the glory that he deserves. Then, prove to the Titans that he's not a comical screw up.

"I don't have to answer this," Beast Boy walked away from Robin, and began to go to the door. Robin was furious.

"Don't have to answer—Beast Boy! You are a Teen Titan, you battle super villains day and night, you've saved the world, you've saved lives, and you've saved us…yet if you can't trust your own team and allow yourself to answer one simple question. Then you're a coward!" Robin shouted at him at the door.

Beast Boy turned around painfully slow that they could hear the cracking of his neck when he turned. Beast Boy's eyes were wide and hollow, his eyes looked primitively angered. His pupils were dark along with his heart that stung against his chest. Sweat beads rolled down his forehead when Beast Boy began to walk towards the sofa again. However, Beast Boy was in no mood to talk to Robin anymore.

"And you're right, I won't think much of you now, and you're right in saying that you don't deserve this team or maybe you're not good enough to be on this team. Every time you are up against a major problem you runaway from it like the child you are! All the anger, all the silence, and all the bad attitude crap; it's all because your stubbornness, and it's all because you can't cooperate!"

Beast Boy was back in front of Robin breathing hard, ready to attack. When suddenly, Robin turned him around with his fast reflexes, took out a bird-a-rang, slice the back of Beast Boy's uniform right down the middle. The force pushed Beast Boy to put his weight on the sofa as his uniform slide off and revealed the slash marks on his green skin.

Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven were all completely shocked. Not just at Robin's rash behavior towards Beast Boy, but just the fact that Robin had found proof that Beast Boy was attacked. Beast Boy was enraged, Robin definitely had no right in this one. He discovered that he was breathing harder and harder as he attempted to control his primitive instincts from going out of control, because Robin was about to push him over the edge.

"How…did you…know?" Beast Boy asked between his breaths.

"I watched the infirmary tapes," Robin said simply, "Now's the time to cooperate Beast Boy," Robin knelt down next to him, and he heard Beast Boy growl behind his breath, "For the last time, what happened to you on the cruise ship?"

Before he even had the chance to answer, the alarm went off and the room started to blink in red lights. Robin immediately stood up and ran to the computer. He typed in a few things and they had their mission.

"Titans, trouble," Robin said, "let's go,"

Robin ran out of the room ready for battle while the others still sat there still on the sofa; they were still traumatized from what they saw. Beast Boy didn't hear their footsteps get up and leave the room, and he didn't see them either for he was still bent over the sofa. However, he finally turned around.

"What're you lookin at? Go already!" Beast Boy shouted. The others flinched at his outburst, but they slowly stood up and walked out of the room and left Beast Boy still bent over the sofa.

* * *

It's not one of my best chapters, it's more or less a filler. Letting you know what's going on. The next chapter will be really good, lot's o' action, baby! Anydangway, I've been in like essay-writing mode lately, and I dislike this chapter because I kept thinking that I had to be proper in wording it correctly. Well, I kept telling myself that I didn't need to be proper because I'm not turning this in or anything. It didn't work. I guess you guys are stuck with my properness/choppyness until I get out of school. Til then, please, keep R&R! 


	6. Ch 5: Breaking the Habit

**The Beast Returns Ch. 5**

"Alright, Titans! We've got a jewelry theft in progress at Finer Jewelers in downtown. We need to get in there and cut off the thieves before they get outside and escape," Robin shouted into his microphone as he drove down the streets of Jump City on his R-cycle. Cyborg drove as quickly as he can in his T-car, while both Starfire and Raven flew in the air towards the scene of the crime. Beast Boy was still left at the Tower; Robin didn't believe that he would come, especially after everything that has happened. Robin just did not want to think about him at this moment, especially when there are lives at stake.

"Starfire, you and I will use the element of surprise on the robbers and separate themselves from any weapons that they might have," Robin commanded.

"Agreed, Robin," Starfire didn't sound as perky as she usually did. She was lucky that she was still flying with her emotional turmoil about her boyfriend and Beast Boy. Or else she would be useless to the team.

"Raven, you will block the door in any way you can to make sure that no criminals leave that building," Robin commanded again. Raven just nodded her head in response. She was relieved that Robin was looking in her general direction.

"Cyborg, you calm down the hostages and see to it that they get out safely, but if there's trouble with the thieves don't hesitate to attack," Robin commanded once again. Cyborg wasn't very determined as Robin was on this mission today. His thoughts were still on the even that happened back at the Tower only a few moments ago.

"Got it," Cyborg still gave an affirmative.

"Everything's clear, let's go," Robin sped off towards the intersection where the jewelry store was located. The others soon followed suit. Robin hit his brakes sooner than he had planned out. He saw that these thieves were already outside preparing for their get away. The gang of thieves all jumped into the black van that was parked on the side of the road next to the jewelry. From a distance, Robin counted eight men holding at least two bags full of valuable jewels that were in the van.

"Freeze!" Robin shouted at the criminals. He started his cycle again and cut off the black van that was pulling out and threw a bird-a-rang at the tires. The bird-a-rang popped two of the tires on the driver's side and made the van tilt and unable to move. Cyborg arrived in the T-car not long after, and the girls moved quickly around the van as Cyborg got out and did the same.

"You are surrounded, come out and surrender the jewels!" Robin shouted again. The van stood still, nothing happened when Robin shouted. The others were ready for anything. Cyborg had both his cannons out, Raven stood in stance ready to attack, Starfire had star bolts prepared and on standby, and Robin had two bird-a-rangs in his hands. For the longest time, it was silence. The van did nothing, and no one came out, but the Titans waited. And they kept waiting.

"Don't move until I say so," Robin said softly to everyone.

Suddenly, the van started to shake and rattle. Something was happening on the inside. The back doors to the van shot open with a loud thud and flames of fire burst from the inside. Cyborg and Raven were in range of the flames, but quickly dodged the mysterious attack coming from the van.

"Whoa!" shouted Cyborg as he landed on his feet while Raven floated gently in the air. When the flames died down eight men dressed in all black with black masks and black gloves were standing inside and outside the van. Fire rotated around their arms and legs when all of them attacked.

"Titans, GO!" Robin shouted and attacked two of the fire starters heading in his direction. Robin jumped in the air and did a summersault, and then he slammed his foot against the face of the mysterious man. However the thief grabbed Robin's leg with his fiery hand and threw Robin against the cement as Robin yelled in pain.

Starfire had two of the eight men fighting against her, but the power behind her star bolts made it easy for her to keep the crooks down. She heard Robin's cry in pain and quickly shot down the two men that were gaining on him. Starfire called out his name, flew down to him, and checked to see if he was alright. However, before Starfire had a chance to check his burns a sudden blast of flames headed towards their direction. Then a black aurora blocked the fiery flames' path to the two vulnerable Titans.

Raven regained her focus quickly after saving her two friends and went back to fighting her own couple of criminals. She flew up in the air to gain quicker access to dodging those fire blasts. The two thieves circled around her on the ground to find any weak spot in her flying. One believed that he had her on the edge and fired his hot arms. Raven was quick to respond.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She shouted. Raven's eye glowed white when her magic gathered the hot flames and wisped them around in a circle then fired them straight back to the crooks. The two men were on their toes and countered-attacked with the same flames. Raven wasn't as clever as the last attack, for she had to dip down to get rid of the fire. Her luck was cut short when the two men grabbed her. A large bright blue blast was fired from behind, and knocked away both criminals from her. Raven turned around and saw Cyborg with smoke coming from his sonic cannon.

"Cyborg, behind you!" Raven shouted. Cyborg was suddenly attacked by two villains jumping on his hard metal physique. Their arms increased in heat and Cyborg's circuits began to melt and twist underneath those hot arms. Cyborg shouted in fear of his circuits being permanently damaged, so with all the might he had, he grab hold of the two men and thrust them off of him. He bent forward and checked out his arms and legs. He saw a few severely damaged circuits. Cyborg was furious.

"You're are SO gonna pay for that, you hot heads!" he shouted and transformed both of his arms into sonic cannons.

He was about to fire when he heard a giant roar behind him. It was a green jaguar running towards Cyborg. The jaguar roared again as he jumped over Cyborg and landed in front of the two crooks. Beast Boy pounced on one of them and attacked the face of the thief. Cyborg could hear the cry from the man as the other man tried to pry Beast Boy off of him. However, Beast Boy quickly transformed again into a gorilla and punched the other masked man in the face sending him into one of the windows of the jewelry store.

The other six criminals quickly abandoned the other Titans to help their fellow thieves. They fired at the green changeling at the same time, but Beast Boy aware of his surroundings and transformed again. The smoke from the fire blast disappeared into the air…along with Beast Boy. One of them heard a roar from above as they looked up. A huge rhinoceros fell from the sky and landed inside the circle of crooks. Once the giant green rhino landed it upset a balance of gravity that sent all six men flying in opposite directions. They all fell in different places on the street while one of them went crashing through a second window on the jewelry store.

Beast Boy looked around at the men to double check that all of them were indeed knocked out, and then he transformed back into a human. His friends finally got back up on their feet. Starfire had to help Robin stand correctly on his bad leg. Raven got up. And poor Cyborg still had his cannons ready to fire as he stood there baffled at what he just witnessed. Beast Boy just stood still with the wind blowing in his hair. The others were silent; they all stared at what was left of the crime scene. All eight black masked criminals were knocked out all over the place while Beast Boy stood in the middle of it.

Suddenly, Beast Boy was attacked from behind. He was knocked on the side with such force that he was sent flying across the street out of the way to reveal more black masked men with fire arms. The Titans prepared themselves as all the villains threw black cylinders of fire bombs all over the street sending giant blasts of fire in the air. The smoke that was left was able to blind the Titans from any form of movement. They still fought anyway even if they couldn't see.

Beast Boy got up from where he landed. He saw the Titans still battling out with the other villains that must have smacked him down. There had to be about twenty more men. He guessed this number because five of them went straight for him. Beast Boy started to run too, but was cut off by a blast of fire that sent him down the end of a dark alley way. Beast Boy's vision blurred from the sudden force he endured from the hit. From what he could remember all five of those black mysterious men blinded him and ultimately knocked him out cold.

Beast Boy slowly awoke from his blackout. His vision was still blurred when he looked around to try to figure out where he was. He felt more awake when he realized that he was tied down. He tried to pull against the restraints that held so tightly against his wrists and ankles. However, his fatigue got the best of him and couldn't pull free.

"Damn it! Why won't it fuse?!" he heard someone shout at something in the background.

"Who's there?" Beast Boy shouted back. He saw someone freeze and slowly turn around to greet him.

"Ah, Garfield, I'm glad you are awake," Beast Boy recognized the voice. He immediately reacted.

"You!" Beast Boy said in surprise.

"I'm surprised you recognize me," the mysterious changeling still kept the same black mask on his face, but he wore a white laboratory coat. He either wanted to be professional or prevent dangerous hazards Beast Boy couldn't decide which. He walked over to the table that Beast Boy was strapped to.

"I may recognize you, but I still don't know who you are," Beast Boy said lowly. The man laughed softly.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Garfield, but that information is irrelevant and you have no need of it. I'm sure in do time you will figure it out," he said turning back to his testing table a few feet away. When the man walked away, Beast Boy realized that the top of his uniform was missing. Instead of a uniform shirt he had wires protruding from all over his body. He had six wires attached to his abdomen while two more were attach to his forehead. He guessed that the wires monitored his brain waves and heart rate. He wanted to rip them off and get out of here, but he felt so tired and his body was numb all over. This man must have given him something. After this realization, Beast Boy took the chance to look around and check his surroundings.

There was a table on his right where the man was working. It had several machines stacked on top of each other or sat beside them. All of them made soft buzzing noises that was extremely annoying Beast Boy. A simple light shined over the table while another light shined over the table Beast Boy was unwillingly attached to. This light over him was slightly brighter and allowed Beast Boy to view a little more clearly.

He saw wooden crates everywhere stacked up against the walls, and stained windows high above him letting in the evening light. The room he appeared to be in was all one room, and the darkness that coated the edge of the room made it seem endless. Beast Boy took a wild guess and thought that he was in some kind of warehouse. He heard a rumble of thunder from above and looked up and saw the roof. There were rafters and pointless rope hanging off of them. Beast Boy concluded that it is a warehouse, and it was about to rain. He heard the man walk back to him he saw the man holding a syringe.

"Now, just hold still," he said gently. Beast Boy resisted and pulled his body away from the syringe.

"You're not allowed to stick anything inside my body until I get some answers," Beast Boy commanded. The man pulled the syringe back and cocked a brow through his mask.

"Very well, ask your questions, and then we'll carry on," he said. The man turned around and started to gather a few things at his work table. Beast Boy became angered at his soft tone.

"I want to know who you are, why I am here, and where are my friends," Beast Boy commanded again. He tried to keep his voice raised to make sure that he sounded like he had control in this situation; even though he was strapped to a table. The man laughed again.

"Well, I don't know about those two first questions, but the third I can answer easily," he looked down at Beast Boy, his head was eclipsing the lamp above them, "your friends are still battling it out at the jewelry store with those fiends," he said. Beast Boy gave the man a strange look of suspicion.

"Why do I get the funny feeling that you know who those 'fiends' were?" Beast Boy asked him with a sneer. The man chuckled again.

"You're not as dumb as you lead on, Garfield," he said. Beast Boy growled at him.

"Well, since you're so curious, they are a gang of thieves that prize themselves with the art of fire power. They call themselves the Fire Shadows, simply because of their attire and their ability of controlling the element of fire. I hired them from across the country. I heard that they are real popular in the east. I used them to distract your friends, so I could have access to you," He turned around to see Beast Boy's reaction. His face was contorted with anger as his teeth grinded. The man smiled, "don't be so upset, Garfield. You should be proud. You're about to help me accomplish the most daring technological advancement in science that mankind has ever known,"

"You've killed over thousands of people to get to me, you stab me with syringes, and you distract my friends to pull me away from them; what makes you think I will help you with your goals?" Beast Boy said. He furrowed his eyebrows, "you won't even tell me your name. You're either cowardly or stupid," The man laughed louder this time.

"Call it what you want, Garfield, but I'll call it genius," The man mixed a few chemicals together in a small beaker. With his rubber gloved hands he took a syringe and pulled some the chemical liquids into the tube. The man turned around and walked back towards Beast Boy.

"Now, if you are done asking your questions, we can begin. I'm going to need you to be still," Beast Boy moved away from the man again and growled at him.

"I can rip through these straps and attack you faster than you can stick that needle inside me," Beast Boy threatened the man. The man simply smiled.

"That is why I injected a very mild sedative that would immobilize your transformations. I would have injected more, but I need you awake for this. Now, are you going to cooperate and hold still or do I have to force you?" he said. He lowered the syringe to his hip area. Beast Boy struggled to keep the needle away from his skin.

"You're going to have to force me to stay still," Beast Boy said with aggression towards the man.

"Now, Garfield, are you really willing to risk yourself for something so insignificant such as asking me questions?" the man asked.

"If it stops you doing whatever it is you are planning," he said with determination, "bring it on," The man started to get annoyed with Beast Boy's stubbornness.

"I suppose I can answer the rest of your questions, if it makes you cooperate," the man started to treat Beast Boy like a child as he crossed his arms in front of him like a disappointed parent. However, if it was going to answer Beast Boy's questions, he didn't care.

"Who are you?" Beast Boy asked. The man sighed. It appeared that the man didn't have a choice anymore. If he was going to get what he wanted, then he was going to have to abide by Beast Boy's requests. The man put the syringe down on a small tool table next to Beast Boy. Then he took off his rubber gloves and sat them aside. Beast Boy saw his hands and he became very nervous; his hands had scaly skin and were dark bold violet. The man lifted up one of his hands and took the bottom of his black mask. The hand lifted the black mask revealing the face of the mad scientist. Beast Boy gasped in shock and devastation. His face revealed the same tone as his hands.

"My name is Dr. Samuel T. Register, Head of the Department of Supernatural Diseases at STAR Laboratories, Former Head of the Department of Medicine and Cures, former science assistant for the geneticists Dr. Mark and Dr. Marie Logan…and soon to be discoverer of the cure for sakutia," said the now known Dr. Register. He lifted up his arms proudly in front of Beast Boy.

Beast Boy suddenly knew everything. He knew how he knew his name, why he kept coming after him, and why he was injecting him with chemicals.

"Uncle…Samuel?" Beast Boy remembered him. He remembered everything.

"Very good, Garfield. Now, suddenly everything makes sense, doesn't it?" he said with his violet lips. Beast Boy was still in shock.

"Wh-what have you…done to yourself?" he hesitated to ask, but was too traumatized to stop himself.

"Oh, this?" Register referred to his unique color of skin, "A few mishaps, a few failed cures and an illegal human testing, but nothing to be worried about," Register smiled again at Beast Boy's still unmoved and shocked eyes, "it's the same skin as yours, only mine's a bit more…no, I shouldn't horrific, let's just call it unique,"

"Well, since you know who I am, shall we continue on?" he asked grabbing the syringe again. This question snapped Beast Boy out of his gaze with a shake of his head.

"What do you want, Samuel?" Beast Boy asked sincerely. This man was the man who took him in after his parents died, but after an accidental explosion in Africa Beast Boy was sent to the U. S. to live with foster parents while Samuel was left behind.

"Isn't it obvious, Garfield? I'm going to find the cure for sakutia and you're going to help me!" he said, but not with determination. Beast Boy sense that there was something more to this ambition.

"But what do you need me for?" Beast Boy asked another question.

"Why, Garfield, you are going to be my test subject," Register leaned in close to Beast Boy's face, "I'm going to cure you of this curse people call a disease. You're going to be free," Beast Boy was baffled.

"But…Samuel…I don't want to be cured…I help people," Beast Boy felt like a child again saying this to him. Beast Boy looked up to him, and treated him like his own father when his was gone. He didn't know how to act, but that didn't mean that Beast Boy was going to let him have his way.

"Now's not the time to be stubborn, Garfield. Alright then…let's begin," he said getting his gloves back on. Beast Boy stopped him.

"No! There's something else that you want, I can sense it! You're not going to inject me with anything until I get a reason why," Beast Boy said with determination. Register let go a frustrated sigh. He would sedate the green changeling, but in order for the formula to go into effect Beast Boy needed to be awake.

"I am going to find a cure for the virus sakutia, and then share it to public so people can be rid of this horrible disease," the man saw Beast Boy's expression of suspicion and he smiled wickedly, "and then…when the world is free of sakutia, I will spread the disease again, but this time worldwide," Beast Boy lowered his jaw, "everyone will be begging me for the cure, everyone will be calling me a hero, and I will receive the proper amount of glory I deserve," He saw Beast Boy's eyes widened, and he continued, "But even that kind of achievement is not enough for old Samuel Register, no. While working on this cure for over five years, I've come to a realization that this disease holds a very unique kind of power. Along with finding a cure, I've been finding a way to harness this…power, and I'll be able to use this power for my own personal gain. I'll harness it and give it back to the world. I can give it countries to strengthen their troops for war; they could have the advantage of biological warfare and destroy their enemies with one fire. Just think of it, no more guns or nuclear weapons. It'll be brilliant. Countries everywhere will want me on their side," Register looks up to the ceiling with his eyes closed, as if he was visualizing his dream had come to a reality, "what a beautiful sight it will be,"

"You're insane!" Beast Boy shouted at him, "You are a crazy physco! I am NOT helping you at all! And you can't make me!" Beast Boy struggled against his straps. Register lowered his arms and opened his arms.

"Oh, yes, I can Garfield, I've discovered that I can be quite persuasive," Registered smiled. He tightened his rubber gloves and grabbed up the syringe. Beast Boy struggled again.

"What's so important about me? I'm already infected with the disease!" Beast Boy shouted at him.

"Yes, that is true, Garfield. However, you are different from everyone else. There's something that lies within you, some kind of secret. It's the secret that I've been searching for years. And it's the same secret that your father accidentally stumbled upon when you were first infected. This secret is more a key if you will, and this key is the answer to universal immunity…the link between man and animal…and the cure for sakutia," Register explained softly.

"Your father treated you with something long ago that I have been unable to recreate. However, I will find a way, and after so many years of searching, I may have found my way," Register placed his left hand on top of the lower part of Beast Boy's abdomen, and he pressed down. Register lifted the syringe higher into the light so Beast Boy could see it. Beast Boy was breathing hard from all the struggling, but he glued his eyes to the syringe he saw.

"What is that?" he asked. Register expected him to ask.

"Another cure I've created. It's just like the first injection I gave you on the ship, but hopefully this one will be a little bit more…effective," Register replied. He lowered the syringe closer to Beast Boy's hip. Beast Boy started to struggle again.

"No! Wait! Please! Don't do it!" Beast Boy pleaded with him. He didn't want another cure, especially if it was like the last time. Register kept his left hand pressed down on Beast Boy's abs to hold him down.

"It's alright, Garfield, this time you don't have to hold still!" Register stabbed Beast Boy with the syringe. Beast Boy screamed in pain. He could feel the rush of chemicals running through his veins and shooting straight through his heart. It felt like a thousand knives stabbing all over his body. Beast Boy felt himself transforming without thinking about anything. He transformed just like he did with the first cure, but this time…it is more violent and painful. Beast Boy screamed and shouted in different animal noises, his skin changed into various textures from scales with fur to skin with slimy mucous and feathers. His arms were gorilla form with hooves as hands. His nose turned into a wolf's snout with a snake tongue and hippo's teeth. His neck was the length of a giraffe with stripes and covered in wool like sheep, and his hair was a lion's mane. His legs were hind-legs made of duck rubber while his feet were fins. His back grew spikes and an alligator's tail with feathers.

Register backed away and watched this horrible scene unfold. He was horrified and outraged.

"Damn it! It still won't fuse!" He shouted to the air and he threw the empty syringe down on the floor in frustration. Register continued to watch Beast Boy suffer and transform so quickly it look like his skin was breaking into wounds. Blood started to bleed from indentions of different animal parts of Beast Boy's body. He wanted all to stop, and he cried out to anyone who would help him. Finally, his body gave away, and the transformations suddenly stopped. Beast Boy laid there on the table motionless.

Register counted the silence. He let Beast Boy lay there motionless to make sure it was safe. He needed to get more of his blood. At this point he didn't care about Beast Boy, as long as he got enough blood to test for awhile, he could care less about Beast Boy. Register walked slowly up to Beast Boy. He checked to see if he was still breathing, and he was very faintly. His hand moved cautiously to the small tool table to take an empty syringe for blood. Register placed the syringe between his fingers and thumb, and then he lowered it slowly to the hip area of Beast Boy again.

He was only a centimeter from piercing the skin again until he found himself being choked by a giant gorilla arm. He yelped in surprised and saw Beast Boy's eyes were wide open. But they weren't the same green eyes he saw earlier. They were yellow, narrow, and they glowed. Beast Boy roared and threw Register across the room against his heavy testing machinery, and made them short circuit. Beast Boy knocked him out. Once Register was out of the way, Beast Boy pulled against the restraints and roared as he finally broke free from them. He sat up with the same yellow eyes, growling feverously. He transformed into a giant gorilla and tore an open way through the wall.

Rain started to fall as the Titans drove down the streets towards Titans Tower. Cyborg drove his T-car; Robin sat in the front seat while the girls sat in the back. The Titans fought those mysterious fire starters for what seemed like hours. The villains got away with the jewels. The Titans fought the best they could, but there was just too many thieves to take on with only four Titans. After they had gotten away, Robin was furious and wanted everyone to search for Beast Boy because no one saw him after he was knocked off to the side. So, everyone searched for the green changeling for at least three hours, and came back with no results. Robin finally ordered everyone in the T-car to go home. It started to rain when it got too dark to search anymore. Now, the Titans were on their way home, bruised, bloody, and wet. That was their physical stand point because emotionally they feel abandoned, angered, and not very victorious.

Cyborg pulled into the garage at the Tower and everyone got out quietly. Starfire shook her hair out and splattered rain water all over the place. Robin ringed out his cape. Raven pulled her hood down, and Cyborg simply just walked off into the elevator. The others soon followed. After everyone was in, Cyborg pushed the button and the doors closed.

Raven was standing next to Robin in the elevator shaft. She could feel the heat of his anger coming from him, but she got a little nervous when she suddenly received a giant wave of hatred. Raven saw Starfire going to comfort her love, but Raven stuck out an arm and shook her head no to stop her. Robin started to hyperventilate and growl under his breath. He definitely wasn't very happy. The elevator finally stopped and opened the doors again. Robin immediately walked out to go straight to the Operations Room. The other Titans gave him a head start and waited by the elevator. Starfire went after him first, then Cyborg and Raven. The opened the door to the Ops. to find Robin leaning up against the counter top again. Starfire was already a few feet behind him. She called out to him when she saw that he was still trying to catch his breath.

"Robin, please, none of us expected this to--," she was cut off by Robin's abrupt fists hitting the counter top.

"I've had enough of this! Why is he doing this?" Robin shouted at all of them. Cyborg walked up to him.

"Robin, calm down! This doesn't help--,"

"I don't care what it does! I want him found NOW!" he shouted again, "Raven, check the computer!" Raven hestitated to do what she was told. She was trying to get her thoughts organized and stop the waves of anger coming from Robin, "That's an order!"

Raven finally went over to the computer. She typed in a few things and brought up a map of the city on the big screen. A small red B symbolized Beast Boy. The true location could never be told by the big screen, but the exact descriptions of his whereabouts were on the screen Raven looked at. However, the screen had to load and send signals to his communicator. Robin got a little curious though; he saw Raven stop the downloading process and stand up to move away from the computer. Raven closed her eyes in expectation.

"Well, where is he?" Robin demanded.

"Behind you," he said. Robin turned around and saw him. He felt his fury running through his veins again, and he furrowed his brows in anger.

Beast Boy stood at the bottom of the stairs soaked in rain. The top part of his uniform was still missing. Everyone could see his well earned and toned abs moving along with his lungs with every breath that Beast Boy took.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Beast Boy!" Robin demanded. Beast Boy didn't move from his spot, nor did he look up to acknowledge Robin.

"What is wrong with you? I expected you to just stay at the Tower, but when you DO show up; you take out a few crooks and then you _walk away again?! _You can't walk out when innocent lives are at stake! This isn't some kind of joke, Beast Boy! This is our job! This is our life! And I'm SICK of you ruining it!" Robin walked around in circles, and tried to ease his mind by rubbing his forehead. Beast Boy just stood there and closed his eyes, ready to endure Robin's tirade.

"Do you even care about this team anymore? Heck, do you even care about _anything_ anymore?!" Robin asked him hotly. Beast Boy didn't reply, "_Answer me!"_ he still refused when Robin got into his face. Robin sighed in frustration and growled as he walked away, but he came back to Beast Boy to say one more thing.

"This kind of act only proves how much of a coward you are," he said. Suddenly, Robin saw him open his eyes. They were the same yellow eyes that Dr. Register saw only moments before. Robin jumped back in fear when Beast Boy roared fiercely at him. Then, Beast Boy attacked Robin. He quickly changed his form into a tiger, and used his powerful claws to paw underneath Robin's skin at his sides, chest, and legs. Robin screeched in pain to try to get the massive creature off of him. He had to dodge several times as the tiger went for his neck. The tiger missed and instead ripped off Robin's cape with ease.

"Robin!" Starfire called.

The others were quick on their feet, and tried to get the beast off of Robin. Cyborg jumped on the tiger's back to pry him off shouting out his name and telling him to leg go. The tiger roared at Cyborg and changed on of his arms into a gorilla arm and knocked Cyborg off of him.

"Starfire try star bolts!"

"But…it's Beast--!"

"It doesn't matter, do it!" Cyborg shouted at her. Starfire powered up her star bolts and sent them flying to Beast Boy. Beast Boy roared again, but this time in pain. However, he changed his tiger tongue to a giant snake tongue to whip Starfire out of the air. She landed next to Cyborg.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven shouted. Beast Boy looked up and made contact with Raven's glowing eyes. Her arm was outstretched and her fingers were spread apart. Raven focused all her energy into the angered tiger that was Beast Boy. The tiger stopped and relaxed himself, and then he tumbled over and changed back into human form unwillingly, and he was unconscious. Raven put her arm down and glided herself over to Beast Boy to get him off of Robin.

"We need to get these two to the infirmary now," she said quickly. Cyborg and Starfire got up. Starfire went to take Robin into her arms. He was groaning in pain, and semi-unconscious.

"Raven, what did ya--,"

"I sent a mind pulse, and knocked him out," she said cutting him off, "come on, we need to go before Beast Boy wakes up, and before Robin bleeds to death,"

They all went to the infirmary. Robin was in a bed with Starfire right beside him comforting his ungloved hand. Robin was pretty banged up. He endured several scratches, bites, and bruises all over his body. Not to mention the burn he received earlier that day from the jewelry theft. Starfire and Raven nursed him with bandages and some antibiotics to prevent infection. He was shirtless with bandages around his chest and bruises underneath the collar bone. His other injuries weren't as serious, but the most life threatening one was the one at his neck. They had to wrap bandages loosely to prevent blood loss and to not restrict Robin's breathing.

"How's Beast Boy doing?" Raven asked Cyborg. He was sitting next to Beast Boy's monitors. Cyborg pressed a few buttons.

"Well, pulse rate is normal, and brain waves are out of control, nothing new," he said.

The others knew that Beast Boy was now a threat to the team, so Cyborg put him in confinement, which meant he was chained to a wall and placed in a very secure place. The "safety room" Starfire called it was where they put Raven in last year when her father was on the rise. Cyborg considered it an extra room for anything that needed to be confined. However, Cyborg believed that anything that would be confined in that room again would be either a criminal that couldn't be released to jail or Silkie with rabies. He never expected to put Beast Boy in there.

"So, what do we do now?" Cyborg asked the girls. Neither of them knew what to do.

"Well, there's obviously no getting through to Beast Boy," Raven remarked. Cyborg agreed fully with that.

"Yeah…Robin is enough proof of that," he said.

"I just wish he would wake up," Starfire said silently. Cyborg reassured her.

"He will Star, he will. He's just a little shocked, like all of us. At least that's my guest on how he passed out," Starfire nodded in response.

She suddenly felt Robin's hand move under hers. Starfire snapped to it and called out to him.

"Robin?" she said leaning towards him. The others jumped up from their seats to see if he was coming around. Robin started to shift his body weight in his bed. Then he opened his eyes…behind his mask.

"Robin, you are alright?" Starfire asked him, stroking his hair back. Robin looked up at her.

"Yeah, Star, I'm alright I just…feel like I got hit by a truck," he tried to get up, but Starfire pushed him back down. Robin rolled his eyes at her, he liked her being all worried like that.

"Where's Beast Boy?" Robin asked to anyone.

"He's in confinement," Raven said giving Starfire a cool towel to put on Robin's head, "I would've expected something a little bit better, Robin," this reminded Robin of a disappointed mother.

"Yeah, man, you really should not have blown up on B like that. He's unstable enough as it is," Cyborg said. Robin bowed his head a little.

"I know that, but…," Robin paused and sighed in frustration, "…I hate it when we lose,"

"Well, it happens," Raven stated simply.

"I know! It's just…when we do fail, not only do we lose, but we lose the trust of the people…and Beast Boy is tampering with that trust, not only from us, but from the people as well," Robin said worriedly. Cyborg got confused.

"What does that matter?" he asked. Robin sighed again.

"Discrimination, we will be rejected, people won't want us to help them anymore, mother's won't want us to save their children, banks won't want us to investigate anymore and the city won't need superheroes anymore," Robin spoke softly. The others went silent at the sound of these words. Well, discrimination and rejection never sounds good. That was the last thing any superhero would want from the people they protect, and hopefully it will never happen to the Teen Titans.

"Something else is playing with Beast Boy's system," Robin said thinking to himself, "Did anyone else see his eyes?" They all shook their heads no.

"They were just normal green eyes when I was cuffin' him up," Cyborg said. Robin sighed again.

"I guess I was the only one who saw them then. When he attacked me, he opened his eyes before he transformed, and I saw these horrible yellow eyes. I was too taken aback to notice that he was about to pounce me," he said. Raven raised her eyebrow.

"Those must have been some powerful eyes," she said curiously.

"Raven?" Robin called. Raven looked down at Robin's bruised and banged up face. Robin had this sort of worry and determination illuminating off of him, and she became curious about what was going to come out of his mouth.

"You said you could enter Beast Boy's thoughts by touching his forehead, correct?" he asked. Raven understood where he was going, and she nodded her head yes.

"I think it's time," he replied. Raven's heart started to pick up speed slightly.

"Is it…safe in there?" she asked.

"If you don't want to do it--,"

"No, I want to do this, I want to help him. If I do this I'll be able to find out why he's acting this way. I just don't want to put anyone in danger, him included," she replied. Cyborg looked in her direction and nodded his head.

"Yeah, it's safe. I haven't changed the light bulbs in while, but the emergency lights should kick on," Cyborg said.

"Wait, he's in there in the dark?" Raven asked him astounded at him. Cyborg sighed in guilt.

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't want to go back in there," he said fearfully.

"He should be alright, and you'll be fine," He got up and picked something up from the desk where the monitors were, "He's cuffed and strained to the wall, he's not going anywhere," he came back and gave Raven a small key, "here's the key to open the air pressured door. Be careful in there," Raven nodded slowly.

"We'll be watching you from in here, okay?" Cyborg said. He held onto her hand, and Raven looked up at him, "Go get'em, girl. Go get our Beast Boy back," this made Raven smile slightly.

"I'll do my best," and with that she left the room.

Raven walked down the hallway silently. Her feet were quiet as she mentally prepared herself for what she had to do to Beast Boy. Raven never did like using this power to read someone's thoughts with their emotions. Basically, it was breaking someone else's personal privacy, and the mind couldn't be anymore personal. Raven didn't like snooping around in other people's business, just like she didn't like Beast Boy snooping around her business. This situation is ironic, she thought to herself. This power of hers will not only reveal to what he's truly feeling, but allow her to see everything he felt and thought in the past. Raven will know everything about Beast Boy within the two minute time period she will have. She will know everything about his childhood, all his fears, and all his dark secrets, which definitely scared her. Knowing anyone's dark secrets is a pretty scary thing, but the thing that frightened her most was that she was about to read the mind of one of her friends, whom she trusts. And if she knows all of Beast Boy's secrets that he may not want her to know, then that trust would be gone…forever. Losing one of her friends was the worst thing that could ever happen to her, and she didn't want to start now.

Raven stopped at the heavy secured locked door. She remembered Cyborg telling her how it was made with solid titanium lined with diamond molecules to keep it extremely firm and inescapable. The door took up most of the wall at the end of the hallway, and there binding it together was a huge jagged lock, that Raven assumed opened for her when she opened it. However, Raven never did break to Cyborg that no amount of metal was going to stop magical beings from getting inside.

Raven pressed a small pad on the wall, and from the wall expelled a small keypad and a key hole. Raven slowly and nervously placed the small key into the keyhole, then turned it clockwise until it stopped. A small screen grew brighter and asked for a Titan access code. Cyborg didn't tell any specific code, so she assumed it was her own access code. Raven typed in her code and pressed enter. The keypad loaded and greeted her with a bright "Accessing, Raven." The door released highly pressurized air from both sides of the door. The lock slowly began to unlock itself for her to enter inside. One piece went down while the top piece moved upwards. The giant door took a long time to open, Raven concluded that it was moving so slow because it was made of titanium and diamond. So, she took this time to take a quiet moment of peace to prepare herself for what she was about to do.

"Azar, guide me forward to the right path," she whispered.

The door finally opened, and Raven opened her eyes then began to walk inside.

The room was dark, and Raven could hear Beast Boy's ragged breath in the air. She fearfully panicked to try and find a light switch; the dark and Beast Boy's breath were starting to get to her. Raven found one and clicked it on. Only one light shined above Beast Boy. Raven gasped silently in fear of his present condition.

With only light working in the room, it made Beast Boy look like a dead zombie. He was chained and cuffed to the wall just like Cyborg said. His arms were outstretched and around his wrists were computerized metal cuffs that attached themselves to the wall to send signals to the monitors in the infirmary. He was still shirtless, and he had his head bent down. Raven could tell that his body was trying to cope with the position he was strained to. His back curled over, and sweat poured and dripped off his body which shined brightly in the spotlight; his hair was matted because of it too. Raven could see defined lines of his toned muscles moving in sync with his desperate lungs. She could tell he was in so much pain, and she knew she needed to take that away from him before it destroyed him.

Raven was still in the dark several feet away from the light and where Beast Boy stood. She began to walk forward. As she moved closer to the green changeling she felt those familiar waves of anger again, and they grew louder with every step. She rubbed her temples again. He was struggling with these emotions and she couldn't help but be curious as to what's causing them. Raven was still behind the darkness, but Beast Boy could sense her movement and fear. Beast Boy opened his eyes; they were still green, but helpless eyes. Then, Beast Boy spoke.

"I know you're there Raven," that was Raven's cue to step into the light. She called to him.

"Beast Boy,"

"Why are you here?" he said aggressively.

"I'm here to help you,"

"I don't need help," Beast Boy spat, "I'm in perfect shape,"

"No," she shook her head in front of him, "you're not," she walked closer until she was about four feet away from him, "you are struggling,"

"There is nothing wrong with me," he said in a deep malice voice, "I have never felt more alive," Raven stepped back in fear, that did not sound like the Beast Boy she was use to. She never believed that she would ever see the day that Beast Boy would be serious, or in any manner of blinded hate.

"Beast Boy, you must listen to me, your physical levels are out of control, and you need to let me help you,"

"Why should I? I've never liked you in the first place. Why should I trust someone like you with my own well-being, when I know perfectly well that I am never better," Raven furrowed, biting back the emotion from escaping from her tongue.

"None of you care about me, so why should I believe that any of you are willing to risk your lives to save me?" Beast Boy sounded defeated, but determined. Raven had her head low, how could he believe that they did not care about him, especially after everything they went through together? Something was severely wrong with this situation, and she would put an end to this.

"All of you, ridicule me, insult me, beat me down, make fun of me, deny me and ideas, embarrass me, and worst of all…completely ignore me," Beast Boy counted off. A few tears leaked through his eyelids and rolled down his face. Beast Boy turned away from her since he felt embarrassed that he was crying in front of her. He attempted to hold back a sob, "What is wrong with me, Raven? What did I do wrong to end up being unaccepted?"

Beast Boy got what he could of himself back together, and he silenced his sobs.

"I think about it all the time. Day in and day out, and even in my sleep I go over what I've done in my life. I think about it, and I try to correct the mistakes I've made…and I try to figure out how to make myself be…oh, jeez…I don't even know what I'm aiming for anymore. I've tried to everything I could all at once, but look where I end up…I'm…chained to a wall,"

"Beast Boy, I--,"

"I looked up to you," Raven stopped, and she couldn't help but feel sympathetic for the green changeling, he continued, "I looked up to all of you, and…not because I am the youngest out of all of us. It's because all of you have such a history of great things in your pasts. All of you have done something that makes you famous and appreciated,"

"Beast Boy, you have done things that you should be proud of," she replied softly. She wanted to reassure him. Beast Boy shook his head no.

"That's not, true. I…have never been proud of myself," he replied with hurt in his voice.

"Robin is famous for being the Boy Wonder of Gotham because of bringing down the deadliest villains at the aid of Batman. Starfire seems to fit in so well, and she's an alien from outer space! It could be her looks because she is beautiful, but…people love her personality. She only focuses on the best, Starfire does. I've never truly seen her angry at anyone before. I often wish I could do what she does sometimes…Cyborg can do anything. With an IQ of 170 and a cannon in his arm he can do anything," he sighed as he thought about each of his friends. He felt so lucky to have friends like them.

"Aren't our friends the greatest, Raven?" he asked. This question seemed unconvinced by Raven, she noticed that he was being slightly sarcastic.

"And you, Raven, the things that you have done…they still baffle me sometimes. I often wonder most about you, and I worry the most about you at the same time. I…just can't understand how you can live your life knowing that you were going to end the world one day," Raven looked up to listen, "and you still lived on…without showing any form of emotions. I look back at these things and I kept thinking about…how that must've been torture for you. You couldn't love anyone, hate anyone, or put any sort of life together before your time was up. You still had us, but…even that…didn't change anything,"

"What?" she was surprised at what he said.

"You told us about your fate, and we did what we do, we saved the world from annihilation, and you returned free from your father's rule. And I couldn't have been happier for you because you could feel. Now it's over, and…you're free…you're free to feel. You can feel now, Raven, but you still choose to hide it all away. Now nothing has changed…it's all the same," Beast Boy finished, and inhaled quickly to stop the oncoming tears. Raven took a moment of silence to think about what he said, and she realized that he doesn't know the whole truth. Beast Boy used that moment of silence to cry, to cry for her, his team, and himself, and then he cried for everything in between.

"None of that means anything to me now. I realized…that I need to start my own history of great things. I have to be better, and I have to be stronger," he started to lose his breath, "I have to be…enough…for this team, but…even this…I realize…that I'm not…and I'm never going to be," he started to breath heavily, and sweat poured out from his skin as he looked up with his desperate eyes to Raven, "isn't that right, Raven? Don't you agree with me?"

Beast Boy began to shake when he furrowed his eyebrows at her speechless face. He growled at her.

"AM I NOT ENOUGH?" Raven stepped back in surprise when Beast Boy yelled at her. Raven still held her tongue. Her focus was to help him, and not to answer. Beast Boy still shook with anger and hatred.

"No, I'm not. Your silence is proof of it," he said. Raven walked forward again, she needed him to calm down.

"Beast Boy…please…you are not well at all, and you must let me--,"

"You don't even care!" he interrupted, "none of you…care!" he growled.

"I do so care because I'm in here right--,"

"You were ordered…by Robin, and he doesn't care either. He just cares about his precious city," he stared her down, and she feared, "I see it in your eyes,"

"I cannot show emotion," Raven said softly yet monotone, "it isn't possible,"

Beast Boy laughs at her. "That's…just…what's so great about you Raven," his words affected her deeply. What game was he playing at? His state of being threw her off her thoughts. Beast Boy was shaking now. This allowed more moisture to fall from his brow, slur his words and speed up his breathing. However, even after this he still laughs at her, "you give stupid excuses for something that everyone knows is completely false. You may think you hide your emotions by meditating, reading, and being quiet natured…but you're not.

"You're more opened then any of us in this tower. I can read you like a children's book, and I can guess what you feel at anytime. You know it…you just like to deny it. I know it because I can sense it. Fear lingers around you like a bad moldy odor…and you may not know this, but your eyes give away most of your emotion. You try to hide yourself beneath the darkness of your cloak, but you don't realize…that your eyes still reveal themselves inside that darkness and show everything you try to keep locked inside. I study you, when you think you're alone, and I know you keep a lot of emotion down, and I mean a lot. Anger, depression, happiness…love, you keep everything down so quickly that no one can see you…but everyone has their breaking points.

"You may be half demon, but you are still half human and you're going to have to let go sometime," he saw that he was getting to her in some way, her face retorted in a small way to show fear. He smiled wickedly at her, and kept on heckling her.

"You are going to fall just like everyone else, and you know it…and that scares you…it scares you so much that you still can't sleep at night. You wake up so early in the morning just to get away from the nightmares you get. You deny everything because of these fears, and you're scared because you don't want to break your little reputation. Because everyone knows that Raven the dark witch is the emotionless brick wall that won't ever crumble. And everyone will forever know that Raven has so much strength and so much selflessness that she keeps her emotions locked away so she can be different!

"Now, everyone can feel sorry for poor pathetic Raven when she does fall, since her father is the source of all damnation, let's all feel sorry for her and make her feel comfortable while she goes out and screws the world and her friends over!"

"Shut up!" Raven clenched his throat with her aurora, "you know nothing about me!"

Beast Boy felt the pressure tighten around his neck, and then he gave her a dirty smile. He roared like a furious beast at her, which in turn made her jump away from her and release her grip from his neck. Then he laughed at her again.

"You see Raven? You think you are brave and a good person, but deep…deep inside your soul, you are nothing…but a scared little girl with some daddy issues," Raven let a few tears linger in the bottom of her eye lids as she endured the horrible sound of him laughing at her. However, a realization struck her. Finally, she understood the game that he was trying to play, he was trying to get under her skin and get her angry so he would be dominant in this situation, so he wouldn't have to let go of anything. Raven wasn't about to let him have that. She realized that she had to get past the anger barrier in order to really know what he was feeling. And only way she knew how to do this, is to fight fire with fire.

"At least…I had…somewhat of a father," Raven said extremely slowly. Beast Boy immediately stopped laughing.

"What?" he growled deeply.

"…and…a mother," Raven continued. Beast Boy kept growling.

"What're you saying, Raven?"

"I'm saying had parents, they may not have loved me, but at least I had some," Raven grew some courage and stepped closer to him, "I never hear you speak about your parents or where you're from, Beast Boy. All we know was that you came from another team, the Doom Patrol," Beast Boy growled louder, "So, what happened Beast Boy? Did they drop a genetic seed in the ground and you grew from a sprout? Or did Mento and Elastic girl get lonely and grew you from a tube?"

"Shut up! You can't talk about them!"

"I bet it hurt back when you were a kid. You being made fun of, called a freak of nature, grass stain, or pea brain!" Beast Boy growled louder as she continued, "But you know what, I bet you weren't even around kids at your age. I bet that Mento decided that you were mature enough to risk your life and become a superhero. Well, I'm sure he was disappointed! He probably put you through tough agonizing training courses just to be let down because you refused and decided to act like the comic genius that you think you are,"

"No," he whispered. His face was so wrinkled with anger that blood vessels started to show. Raven got closer to his face.

"I bet they never loved you," Raven backed up when Beast Boy let out another piercing roar and fought against his cuffs. He wanted to hurt her; he wanted to punish her so badly she would beg for mercy. Raven kept her stare firm.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Then let me know, let me know everything, let me help you!" Raven shouted back.

"NO! NO! I DON'T NEED HELP!" he shouted again.

"Then let me take it, let me take your pain away!" Raven shouted again as she moved closer and reached out her hand to touch his forehead.

"NO! NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Beast Boy roared. Raven moved her right hand closer to his face when suddenly he attacked her and bit down on the inside of her thumb. Raven screamed out in pain. Beast Boy dug deeper into the skin making sure that her hand would never be able to leave his mouth unless she tore it off.

Raven was at first completely shocked that Beast Boy would ever do such a thing to her, but he's changed now, he's not Beast Boy anymore. The room began to get silent, and only the sound of Beast Boy's growling and Raven's heavy breaths echoed. Raven absorbed the pain into her, and let it soak all over her body as she felt him press harder against her soft skin. The shock faded away and determination grew inside of her.

"That's right, Beast Boy," she whispered softly. She had her head held high when she absorbed the pain in, but she leaned her head down slightly to be level with Beast Boy's. She spoke louder, "I bet that felt good, didn't it? All that aggression that needs to be released, and you release it on me,"

Raven moved her left hand and placed it on his soaked forehead and she tried to concentrate while he chewed on her hand like a dog. Raven wasn't getting anything but those loud waves of hatred and anger. The only thing different was the difference in volume when she was far away. She began to form beads of sweat from the loudness ringing in her ears. There had to be something more. She felt like he was holding back, so she decided to encourage.

"Give it to me," she commanded. Beast Boy shook his head no and bit down harder.

"Give it to me now, Beast Boy," she said again while her breath was going ragged. Beast Boy growled and bit down again. Her hand began to bleed and drip into his mouth and down her wrist.

"Beast Boy!" she yelled. Withstanding the pain she tightened her grip around his jaw making her blood flow more down her arm. Beast Boy still refused with loud growls of anger. Raven pushed his head back towards the wall hard and fast with her left hand against his forehead.

"_Give me your pain!"_ Raven shouted again. Beast Boy roared and released her hand. Raven quickly pressed both her hands against her forehead and received a shock of emotion rush all over her body. Her head was pulled back when she was blown away by the flood of emotion and memories from Beast Boy's simple mind. Raven yelled out from the pain, Beast Boy's pain. Beast Boy yelled along with Raven because he could feel the same amount that she felt as it crossed over to her. Something was happening inside both of their minds.

"_He loves attention. My Gar is going to be an actor, the best actor on Broadway. I apologize if he disturbed you, Samuel,"_

"_Rooarr! I'm gonna be king of the jungle! Oh, monkey…aaah!"_

"_Look at his veins, Mark! It's sakutia."_

"_Green fever…a disease almost as rare as the cercocebus viridis. Humans can't survive it. Within forty-eight hours your son is going to die,"_

"_If we can find the missing link between animal to man then we can save Gar's life,"_

"_Gar! Toss us the rope!"_

"_Mom! Dad! No!"_

"_It's okay, Garfield. Uncle Samuel will take care of you,"_

"_You know you're pretty funny,"_

"_When there's trouble you know who to call,"_

"_You're gonna pay for that ya little grass stain!"_

"_To beat up the idiot telling jokes about him,"_

"…_because in my opinion you don't deserve it,"_

"…_on second thought, I'm not sorry and you're a jerk,"_

"…_you're a coward!"_

"_When are you going to start taking reality like a man?"_

"_Instead of a prized changeling, they see a comical screw-up!"_

"_You were going to tell her everything weren't you?"_

"_You're such immature pinheads,"_

"_Leave me alone!"_

"_Go away!"_

Raven fell weak at her knees and unto the floor in front of him. Her mind rang with thoughts of rage, thoughts of sadness, and thoughts of anger. It was so loud she backed away and covered her ears to try and silence the noise, but nothing would work because she had to stop the bleeding coming from her hand. Raven shook as she looked up to Beast Boy. Her blood dripped from his fangs when he would breathe in. His breath was soft, his head was lowered, and more sweat poured from his skin. Slowly, extremely agonizingly slow Beast Boy lifted up his head to her, he was still breathing softly, and then he opened his eyes.

Raven saw them, she saw the sick yellow eyes that Robin described when he was being attacked. They were like cat eyes, except they glowed with a mysterious animal instinct never seen from Beast Boy. It looked like the animal inside got the best of him. He couldn't hold out much longer. He had to let go. Beast Boy looked blind behind those eyes as he stared right into her violet ones but looked sincere. At that moment, Raven could feel Beast Boy. She could feel the pure emotions that powered his soul. It was so soothing to her, but the way those yellow eyes stared at her. Raven never felt more afraid for Beast Boy at that moment. His body shook like his head was too heavy to support, and he spoke softly to her.

"Raven…," he said sincerely. Something wasn't right, and it was then that Raven knew she was in danger, "…run,"

Beast Boy was gone. He roared up to the high heavens above him, and blood spilled out from his mouth and stained his teeth. He started to grow fur, his hands expanded into claws, his muscles morphed and grew in size, his legs transformed into hind legs, he grew a snout, his teeth were larger, his feet were padded and covered in hair. The unbreakable cuff links started to cut into the skin, but the titanium bolts that bounded the cuffs to the wall finally snapped and broke off leaving Beast Boy broken free.

He stopped roaring when he fully transformed into the Beast.

Its eyes were closed again, and it was standing still in front of the broken cuffs and a traumatized Raven. She was afraid but she stood her ground. Then the beast opened his eyes, it was the same yellow eyes and it opened its ugly jaw to screech at her as she coward in fear and turned away.

Cyborg and Starfire busted the door down and was ready to fire sonic blasts and star bolts at the creature. When suddenly the creature roared at them too, and then made himself an exit through the wall after punching both Cyborg and Starfire in the face and onto their backs. Before they could get back up the Beast disappeared.

"Raven you are bleeding!" Starfire shouted.

"C'mon, girl, say somethin'!" Cyborg saw that she was just staring off into space and tried snapping her out of it.

"I'm sorry…," Raven whispered. Cyborg couldn't understand what she was saying, but it was enough to confirm that she was alive, "…I'm sorry….so sorry,"

"Cyborg, help me get her to the infirmary," Starfire said picking up the side of Raven. Cyborg grabbed the other side of her.

"We got to go track down Beast Boy," Cyborg said to Starfire, "before he hurts any innocent people,"

"How are we going to accomplish that, Cyborg?" she asked as they rushed down the hallway.

"I don't know, Star, I don't know,"


	7. Ch 6: IF Everyone Cared

**Good gravy. Well, I told you on my bio page. I don't update very well, but I will finish this damn story. Anyway, Here it is, Chapter 6...I think. Ugh, crap. I've lost count.**

**Quick disclaimer. In this chapter there's a lot of details. I personally enjoy details, which ultimately makes it my downfall in updating my stories. This chapter is 25 pages long, it's a nice big fat juicy one to help apologize for the year long update. And it mostly talks about what's going on inside Beast Boy's head. So, I've been watching a lot of House lately...and um, I've picked up some medical junk from that show and from google. I don't know if it's right or not, but even if it's not...just work with me on this and roll with it. **

* * *

**The Beast Returns Ch. 6 - If Everyone Cared**

"Get her on screen," Cyborg said. Starfire put Raven down on the bed next to Robin and immediately hooked her up to the monitors that surrounded her headboard of the bed. Raven laid there unconscious and breathing very fast.

"She is on," Starfire said.

"What happened in there?" Robin asked hotly.

"Beast Boy transformed and attacked her," Cyborg was typing on the computer to get her vitals. Robin eyes went wide behind his dark mask.

"What? How did he transform? You told me that your automated cuffs would keep him restrained, Cyborg! What did he transform into?" Robin asked again.

"Starfire, start wrapping Raven's hand to stop the bleeding, now," Cyborg commanded. Starfire quickly obliged. She got the bandages out of the cabinets.

"I'm sorry…so sorry," Raven mumbled.

"Why do you apologize, Raven? You have done nothing wrong," Starfire placed her hand on her head.

"Cyborg, what did he transform into?" Robin asked again sitting up in anticipation. Raven screamed.

"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Raven grabbed her forehead aggressively. Starfire removed her hand from her, "Don't hurt me! NO!"

"Raven! Calm down, please!" Starfire reasonably shouted. Her pulse got faster, and the computer tried to keep up with it, "I must bandage your wound!"

"What's going on?" Cyborg shouted and ran over to her and Raven. Raven was fidgeting in the bed, "her pulse is going crazy!"

"I simply touched her forehead and she began to scream," Starfire reasoned.

"We're going to have to restrain her in order to get those bandages on. C'mon help me with the straps," Cyborg pulled onto the restraining straps that were connected to the bed from the underside. Starfire did the same and they snapped the two conjoining belts to each other and tightened them over Raven's still moving body.

"No! Please, I'm sorry!" Raven shouted with her eyes close. Starfire tried to keep Raven still on the bed so Cyborg could mend her profusely bleeding hand.

"Alright, let's wrap up her hand," Cyborg said.

"Let us hurry, Cyborg, I don't want our friend to be in more pain," Starfire said.

Cyborg lifted up her injured hand into his so he could wrap it up to stop the bleeding, but there was something in her system that caused her blood not to be red, but a dark shade of green. Her wound was also a dark green, this was something that amazed even Cyborg with his medical intelligence and forced him to let out a "whoa," with surprise. But before Cyborg could even make an educated guess on what it was…Raven gasped and opened her eyes.

"Raven!" Starfire said. Raven ripped her hand away from Cyborg's and held it tight while she was breathing in desperately to calm herself down. Small beads of tears began to form around her eyes; the wound in her hand was extremely painful.

"Rae, are ya with us? Can you say anything?" Cyborg asked gently as he placed a comforting metal hand on her shoulder. Raven focused more on the two above her. She tried to sit up, but the belts were holding her down. The focus in her vision finally restored; she was able to relax and see Cyborg and Starfire hovering over her.

"Get these restraints off me," Raven monotoned. Cyborg gave Starfire a nod and she began to unbuckle the belts. Raven slowly sat up in the bed still holding very tightly to her hand. Raven said with worry, "Where is Beast Boy?"

"We're not worried about him now, we need to get you taken care of," Cyborg said seriously. He started to take her hand away, but Raven resented, "Raven, I need to bandage up your hand unless you have enough strength to heal it yourself,"

"Are you joking? You're worrying about me when Beast Boy is outside of the tower transformed into that…that beast!" she said to Cyborg.

"He transformed into _that?_" Robin asked with a shocked expression. Raven turned her head towards Robin and gave him a confirmed nod.

"Raven, please, let Cyborg look at your wound," Starfire asked her.

"I can heal it myself. We need to go after Beast Boy, now," Raven argued.

Robin's chest burned with anxiety and worry…for innocents were now in danger.

"Cyborg, Starfire, I think you both know what your objective is now," Starfire and Cyborg were hesitant. Their procrastination was not for the fact that they would be going after to take down one of their friends, but for the fact that they would be leaving Raven and Robin at the tower completely vulnerable in the infirmary.

"We can't leave with you two in here," Cyborg replied with force.

"Don't worry about us, you need to find a way to restrain him," Robin ordered. He saw Cyborg give a small nod for response.

"Go, now, both of you. Do anything and everything by any means to take him down," Robin ordered them, and Starfire and Cyborg left the room with urgency.

It was a quiet, yet cloudy evening grazing through the skies of Jump City. Citizens were bustling around enjoying the nightlife. Lights would flicker on and off showing in blaze advertisings for a different business, when suddenly a roar could be heard in the distance. A giant tall dark forest green beast jumped onto the main street of the city. The beast gazed into the night sky with his bloodthirsty yellow eyes and sniffed the cold dank air of the city streets. Someone made a noise from behind him, and the Beast turned his head quickly to see who was threatening him. He turned fully around and roared at the crowd of people, and they immediately began to panic and run in different directions.

The Beast began to rampage down the Jump City streets. Citizens everywhere were running away from the action. The Beast roared in rage as he lifted nearby automobiles high over his head and threw them across the road and hit closed down shops and buildings. The police finally arrived on the scene.

"Let's move!" one of the officers commanded. The squad all lined up in stance with their high tech taser guns, "Fire!"

The Beast turned around to see several shots of red hot lasers speeding towards him. He took a few shots, but suddenly snatched up another automobile and tossed it towards the squad making them scatter. The Beast roared again and started charging. He quickly drew out his long sharp claws and began to attack. Slashing at any sight of flesh he could see, he moved with fast and enraged energy, which had the police scared off. The officers ran away as their police vehicles were thrown in their direction. Others were trying to drag themselves away while their wounds and bruises prevent them from going any faster.

The Beast began to get bored with the officers and took off in the other direction. He ran down the street destroying all sorts of city property. Chaos seemed to be surrounding the Beast which only angered him more. He wanted the screams to stop. He halted and turned to the source of the screams. He sniffed the air for a moment then suddenly pounced onto innocent bystanders. The civilians started to panic and run as fast as they could away from the horrible beast behind them.

Suddenly, the Beast was knocked forwards onto the pavement. A giant blue stream of light could be seen in the distance. He quickly got up and roared at the predator.

"Beast Boy!" he could hear the alien princess shout in the distance. The T-car was parked in the middle of the fork with Cyborg standing near it with his sonic cannon at the ready.

"You must stop this at once! We do not wish to hurt you!" said Starfire flying above the T-car.

The Beast did not listen and attacked. He flew in the air to slash his ferocious claws at Cyborg. Cyborg luckily enough dodged out of the way and the Beast crashed into the T-car instead making the car roll over on its side.

"Star, take'em down!" Cyborg shouted in the air at Starfire.

"But--,"

"It's the only way, Star!" Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at the green monster and suddenly had the Beast's attention. He turned around and grabbed the T-car then the Beast threw it towards Cyborg's direction. However, Starfire's star bolts hit the green beast directly in the back making the Beast's toss a little off. Cyborg was able to easily dodge the car. This was enough to distract Cyborg and the Beast seized the chance to attack.

Cyborg gasped in surprise when he saw long claws swinging at his face. The Beast was fast on his feet, but Cyborg was able to closely dodge all the attacks. The angered beast was swinging his claws left and right to try to take down the strange robot. However, Cyborg caught one of the claws of the Beast. But, the monster came back with a surprise and snatched Cyborg's steel cranium with his teeth. Cyborg screamed in shock when the Beast swung around in a fast circle to throw Cyborg in the distance. Cyborg landed on the other side of the street into a building and was unofficially down for the count.

Sniffing the air, the enraged green animal was shot from behind by a light green star bolt. It turned around and saw Starfire in the sky. With a starbolt at the ready she started to dive to attack. The Beast jumped up in the air to grab her, but Starfire was quick to follow and dodged the hairy hands. Starfire began shooting her starbolts again. The green monster jumped all around the street trying to dodge all the flying green discs of light.

Back at the Tower, Robin laid there silently on their thick infirmary padded beds. Robin's injuries began to take toll, every once in a while Robin would tense up in pain from the intense cuts in his skin. He hated being in the infirmary, even more when he was the one in the bed; it was a sign of weakness to him. Robin was anything but weak. However, he knew that staying put was the fastest way to get better.

Raven wasn't as injured as bad as the others thought she was. She was sitting up straight in her bed quietly massaging her damaged hand. Like Robin, every other minute it would send a shooting pain through her hand, but she would hold in her expression. She finally got the nerve to get out of the bed. She walked over to the medicine cabinet on the opposite side still rubbing the inside of her hands together. She opened the cabinet doors to pull out some medical supplies, more or less wrapping tape and healing ointment. Quickly and abruptly, Raven applied the ointment to her injured hand and then began to wrap up the wound in tape. It still hurt, but at least she felt more comfortable without the worry that it might get even more infected.

It was strange; she couldn't understand why her wound did not heal properly. Many different answers kept popping up in her head to explain why, maybe her powers are weakening or maybe she was more tired than she allowed herself to realize, but in the long run none of them truly made sense. In the end, her wound was still there and area around it was still green. She wasn't about to give up on the whole situation, but she decided to ignore it for now. Raven gracefully turned around and headed towards Robin's bed. Robin was staring up at the ceiling.

"How're you feeling?" she asked. Robin turned to stare at her in obvious way.

"Stupid question," Raven muttered, "At least you're not in shock anymore,"

Robin sighed, "Doesn't mean I'm not worried," Raven nodded. Robin began to sit up a little more on his non-injured right elbow to face her, "Did you find anything out?" Raven looked up.

"About what?"

"About Beast Boy, did you read his emotions?" he asked. Raven lowered her head and turned the other way.

"Yes, I did," she said sadly. Robin anticipated more.

"Well? Did you get anything?" he pushed on. Raven pondered over the experience that she went through with Beast Boy. Everything he had felt, everything he went through was plaguing every corner of her mind. She wasn't sure how to handle it, or even how Beast Boy keeps it under control. Raven may not have understood all of Beast Boy's memories that crossed her thoughts that night, but she knew one thing for sure. Beast Boy's mystery just got bigger, and now he's starting to suffer for it.

"More than you can possibly fathom,"

A green starbolt shot the monster straight in the back as he attempted to attack the foreign robot man. Cyborg rose from his feet and jumped on the Beast to keep him down.

"C'mon, B! Snap out of it! Whoa-AH!" the Beast threw Cyborg off of him again. Starfire flew down to help him up; since it was only the two of them fighting they needed to be aware of their limitations.

"Cyborg, what shall we do? We cannot defeat him," Starfire said fearfully. They watched as the Beast drew closer to them, mouth hanging open with saliva dripping down the sides with fierce painful yet evil looking yellow eyes. Cyborg lowered his head.

"We've got no choice, take him down with everything you got," he looked at Star. She nodded and rose in the air. Cyborg transformed both his arms into his famous sonic cannons and aimed them at the ready. The green Beast eyed Starfire rising and kneeled down to attack.

"On three…one," Cyborg started to count. His cannons started to glow along with Starfire's green eyes.

"…Two," The Beast walked into a fast run, using both of his arms to go even faster. He started to roar with fierce energy to attack.

"…THREE!" Starfire's eyes lighted with deadly green beams, Cyborg's arms blasted huge sonic waves of blue directly into the Beast's direction. It was a direct hit, but the blasts did not wane, until at last Cyborg shouted.

"Hold your fire! Star!" Starfire's eyes stopped glowing and Cyborg lowered his arms as the smoke from their attack died down. And from the smoke the Beast jumped over their heads and dashed down the street in the opposite direction.

"Aw, DANG!" Cyborg shouted at him while running back to his flipped over T-car. He cursed and saw Starfire come to help him, "No! Don't lose his trail!" Starfire nodded and sailed across the night sky after the Beast leaving Cyborg to flip over his car and high-tailed it in the same direction.

"He is heading towards the ship dock!" Starfire shouted in her communicator. Starfire sped up to keep track of his trail. The T-car zigzagged through the many streets that led towards the city's harbor. The Beast finally slowed down and quickly entered inside one of the dark warehouses nearby. The T-car screeched to a stop while Starfire flew directly inside and waited for Cyborg to catch up. Cyborg got out of the car and suddenly heard the Beast howl loudly in pain. He called Starfire.

"Starfire, what happened?"

"Beast Boy, he is unconscious," she said. Cyborg entered inside the warehouse and just in front of the warehouse entrance laid an unconscious Beast. Cyborg walked in closer, and Starfire finally landed on the ground. They halted, and they waited, but for what they weren't sure. They hope his transformation would die down and he would change back, but he did not.

"Why is he not changing back?" Starfire asked.

"I don't know," Cyborg was surprised, he wasn't sure what to think of this, but he started to check him out. There was a very large dart stuck on the side of the Beast's neck.

"What is it?" Starfire asked. Cyborg kneeled down.

"It's a tranquilizer and a very heavy dose of it too," Cyborg inspected the dart. Then he heard a noise.

"What does--?" Starfire was cut off by Cyborg's sonic cannon. Cyborg was standing at the ready with his cannon glowing, pointing it at the mountains of various crates inside the warehouse.

"I know you're there!" he shouted to no one, "show yourself!"

"Please, lower your weapon, I mean no harm," said Dr. Register, he stepped aside into the light. Cyborg saw an average size man come into sight. He had a lab coat on with rubber gloves and a tranquilizer gun in his right hand, and he was hot with sweat, Cyborg could tell by the sight of his greasy dark brown hair matted against his oddly tan forehead. Cyborg decided that he was no threat and disarmed his cannon, and Starfire followed his suit.

"Who are you?" Cyborg asked in a demanding tone. Dr. Register lowered his gun.

"Dr. Register, Head of the Department of Supernatural Diseases at STAR laboratories," he introduced himself.

"I have a hard time believing that," Cyborg lifted his arm again, but this time with a tight fist, "The department of Supernatural diseases has been—,"

"—suspended. Yes, I know, I'm on temporary leave due to my intense research and experiments on the nerve virus called sakutia, I'm sure you know about it," Dr. Register explained. Cyborg shook his head no because he did not know about the disease, although he may have heard of it.

"No?" Dr. Register responded, "Well, I know you have witnessed the symptoms, sakutia is the disease that has infected your friend that lies before us,"

"Does that mean you know what is going on with Beast Boy?" Starfire asked curiously.

"I'm afraid I am as puzzled as you are at the current moment," as Dr. Register commented Starfire had a hint of disappointment in her eyes, "However, I believe I can restore him back to his original form, but I cannot cure him of his disease," Cyborg relaxes his arms and stands up straight to listen more intently and then addresses him again.

"Can you explain to us what's happening to him then?" he asked still somewhat demanding. Dr. Register was not intimidated by this at all as he explained Cyborg's questions very patiently.

"There is not much to explain when I myself don't know what exactly is going on, but from the looks of the situation at hand, it seems Mr. Logan's sakutia disease is doing something that all doctor's fear the most when it comes to viral diseases," he explained professionally and calmly as possible, "it is mutating."

"So, what can we do about this?" Cyborg asked him quickly. Dr. Register placed his gun on a nearby crate and knelt down beside the large unconscious Beast.

"Well, what I will do is inject a serum that will help him transform back to normal and you will be able to take him back home. However, I think we can work together to help Mr. Logan's serious condition…," Dr. Register took out a bottle and filled up a medium size syringe with the liquid inside the bottle and held it up to the light.

"After you take him home, keep a log on his vitals, his behaviors, and keep a close watch on him. And if anything gets out of control…," Dr. Register injected the needle of the syringe into the Beast's neck and immediately the Beast turned back into the human form of Beast Boy with his uniform pants ripped to shreds and his chest exposed with nasty cuts, bruises, and claw swipes.

"…make sure to use this," Dr. Register held up the bottle full of medicine to give to Cyborg, which Cyborg took from his hand. Starfire knelt down by Beast Boy ready to pick him up to take him home. Dr. Register also stood up and smiled cunningly.

"You make sure to give me call if anything should happen to him," he held out a card with a number and his name "SAMUEL REGISTER, SUPERNATURAL DISEASE SPECIALIST," printed right above it. Then he disappeared into the shadows of the warehouse.

Cyborg and Starfire finally came back to the Tower with Beast Boy contained and sedated. Robin demanded that he be let out of the infirmary immediately. The others weren't so thrilled on this idea considering Robin had a sling on his arm, many bandages that covered his neck and chest, and the burn mark on his leg, but the team reluctantly obliged. Cyborg, Starfire, Robin, and Raven were all in the living room discussing the newly acquainted Dr. Register and finally getting something to eat.

"So, this guy is a supernatural disease specialist?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, apparently he's been researchin' up this disease that Beast Boy has, because the way he talked about it convinced me that he knows his stuff," Cyborg replied as he ate some leftover mighty meaty pizza. Starfire sat right next to Robin rubbing his sore arm.

"Yes, I did not believe him at first until he turned Beast Boy back into his human form," Starfire commented. Raven was sitting right next to her, she had an uncomfortable look plaguing her face every time Dr. Register's name popped up yet she didn't know why.

"He said that he would help out with Beast Boy, he even gave me his card," Cyborg handed over Dr. Register's card to Starfire in order to give it to Robin. Robin glanced over the card and assumed it was pretty legit.

"Alright, we'll take up on his offer, but only as a last resort. I don't like the sound of this Dr. Register, and the last thing I want is to put Beast Boy's care in the wrong hands," Robin decided to hold onto the card just in case, "let's get some rest, it's been a long night, we'll deal with this in the morning." And they all left the sofa to go into their separate rooms for the night to try and sleep this difficult night away.

Morning came, and the weather wasn't as glamorous as the morning before. Clouds covered the sky and left a very heavy wind in the atmosphere. Robin woke up in his room with his arm still in a sling and his body as stiff and sore as ever. But, he took it as a sign that pain was an omen for healing. He got up and headed straight down to the infirmary to only find Cyborg working diligently on the still sedated Beast Boy.

"Hey," Robin said. Cyborg looked up from the computer monitor he was sitting by across from where Beast Boy was laying. He looked up and saw Robin.

"Oh, hey, man," he replied. Robin grabbed a chair and sat down beside him.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asked.

"Oh, no, not at all," Cyborg said, "but, I gave my battery a little juice and then I came down here to work on some tests on Beast Boy,"

"What kind of tests did you do?" Robin questioned. Cyborg started entering some data on the keyboard.

"Just about all the tests I could do when he's out of it," Cyborg said, "a limbic test, cardiovascular, muscular biopsy, DNA test, and I thought about doing a urine test, but since he's sedated that would call for a catheter and um…well, for that one I figured simply waking him up would a little less…traumatizing," Robin had to sneak a chuckle at that one.

"I guess we'll just have to wait for him to have a girlfriend to even make that option possible," Robin said.

"We could get Raven to do it," Cyborg commented jokingly.

"Aw, man…I realize that Beast Boy and Raven is your new target, but seriously, was that necessary?" Robin said in disgust as Cyborg drew him a lovely mental image after what he just said. Cyborg just laughed. Suddenly, Raven walked through the door to check in with Beast Boy.

"So, how's he doing?" she said behind Cyborg and Robin, which they immediately shut their mouths. The boys turned around and saw her leaning against the countertop nearby.

"Um…well…according to the tests, his brain function is at an all new high, his heart rate is fast, his DNA activity went back down to normal, and he's still sweating up a storm so he's losing fluids fast," Cyborg swiveled back around.

"I don't blame him, it's really hot in here," Raven mentioned. Cyborg stared at her curiously because he knew that the temperature of the room was in fact 70 degrees thanks to his hi-tech arm. But, he decided to not mention anything.

"My next test is a blood test, but something happen to all our syringes and I can't find a sterile one to use, but I think our shipment of medical supplies came in this week. So, I just have to open it," Raven nodded in agreement. Cyborg glanced at her hand still wrapped in bandages, "how's your hand?"

"It hurts, and it's still green," she replied.

"That's not a good sign, Raven. Maybe we should look at it," Cyborg suggested. Raven hid her hand away from him.

"No, worry about Beast Boy first then we'll worry about other injuries," she replied. Cyborg put his hands up as an expression that he was "fine," with it, "let me know how that blood test goes, I'm going upstairs to eat breakfast," with that Raven left the room to go upstairs. Robin watched her leave the room curiously while Cyborg kept his eyes glued to the computer screen. Robin turned back to Cyborg.

"Did she just say that she was going to eat breakfast?" asked Robin. Cyborg stopped typing and looked up with the same curious look.

"Uh…yeah, she did. She does know that requires the consumption of food right?" Cyborg said.

"I believe so, but Raven never eats breakfast other than her regular dose of tea," Robin explained. Cyborg turned his chair around a bit and leaned his metal elbow on the edge of the computer table.

"Should we be concerned about this?" Cyborg asked Robin in a brotherly sort of tone. Robin turned around to face him and smirked.

"If she gains ten pounds in a week, we'll give Jenny Craig a call," Robin joked. Cyborg threw his head back.

"Oh, dog! You're lucky she wasn't in the room when you said that!" he laughed, "Alright, alright, enough of that, get out of here and let me run that blood test," Robin got up and left the room, "I'll call you if something's up." With that Cyborg went back to work, in hope of curing his green friend.

"I better break out that box,"

It was now the afternoon and it had been a few hours since Cyborg withdrew some of Beast Boy's blood for testing. Now the only thing to do was to wait for the results, which Cyborg took the opportunity to go find him some food. A few hours afterwards during the mid-afternoon, Robin was walking down the hallway slowly towards the Ops. when Raven suddenly came through the door he was about to walk through and she stopped him.

"Robin, can I talk to you?" Raven asked him with her arms folded in a serious manner. Robin shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, what do you need?" he asked her. Raven glanced at the floor for a moment.

"It's about Beast Boy," she said. Robin stood calmly and did what he does best, predict.

"You're worried about him," he said professionally.

"Of course I am, aren't you?" she asked him.

"Yeah definitely, one of my teammates is in the infirmary heavily sedated due to his uncontrollable powers, why would I not be worried?" Robin retorted. Raven looked down at the floor again in disappointment with there spiky-headed leader.

"…You're a good leader, Robin, but a terrible liar," she said almost disgusted that he actually attempted to lie to her, and he should know better. Robin sighed and gave in.

"Alright, fine. No, I'm not worried about him. I think he'll recover fine and we'll move on with our lives. And he'll be his old…carefree…self again like always," Robin wasn't very enthusiastic about it. And Raven could tell.

"Robin, the only reason you are not worried about him is because you are holding a grudge against him," she said straight on.

"Okay fine, I admit it. I'm not too fond of Beast Boy at the moment, but can you blame me after everything that's happened with him?" Robin defended. Raven kept her cool.

"In his defense, yes I can blame you," Robin stared at her annoyed, Raven tried to reason, "Beast Boy is not himself, Robin. He's hiding something from us, and right now he is hurting because of it," Robin didn't know what to say to that, Raven rolled her eyes and loosened her grip on her crossed arms.

"Anyway, I'm not here to point fingers at anyone, I actually came to you to warn you," Raven said with determination. Robin looked confused.

"Warn me?" he replied with his masked brow raised. Raven grew some nerve and added some annoyance to her mix to convince him.

"Yeah, warn you. You need to stay away from Beast Boy," Raven said. Robin was mildly taken aback.

"And why should I do that?" he asked.

"Because he is holding in a lot of aggression right now, and to tell you the truth most of his anger comes from you," she finally said. Robin was silent at her words as if he almost didn't believe it, but she continued after a small moment of stillness, "so I suggest you lay low for awhile before he does any more damage to you than he already has,"

Suddenly, both of their communicators went off. Robin removed his from his belt and noticed that Cyborg was calling them. Robin opened his communicator screen to speak with him.

"Cyborg, report," Robin respond rather lowly. Cyborg had a very serious face; even his metallic eye seemed serious.

"Y'all better get down here," he said. Robin closed his communicator and placed it back on his belt. Robin and Raven began to head towards the elevator, and since Cyborg signaled every Titan to hear, Starfire was quickly flying right behind them. The three Titans were quiet as they descended down towards the 1st floor of the Tower, which held the infirmary, the confinement room, and a private medical lab. Robin assumed that Cyborg was in the medical lab so instead of walking into the infirmary, where Beast Boy was, he took a left down the hall a few feet and entered the lab. Cyborg was sitting down in front of a computer that was connected to several machines for testing blood. The nearest machine to the computer was the blood spinner machine which contained four tubes of thick dark green blood. The three Titans, lead by Robin in front, walked closer to Cyborg.

"What is the matter, Cyborg?" Starfire asked in unease. Cyborg pressed enter on the keyboard and a huge digital list of at least a hundred different words displayed on the screen.

"Do you guys know what this is?" Cyborg asked the others. The three Titans leaned in to read them.

"A list of chemicals?" Raven responded dryly.

"…Unstable chemicals," Robin interrupted. Cyborg nodded his head yes in all seriousness.

"You want to know where I found all these?" Cyborg turned and picked up one of the test tubes that contained the green blood.

"In here," Cyborg held up the tube close in their faces, "…in Beast Boy's blood," the others were silent as Cyborg placed the tube back on the spinner, "looks like we figured out why Beast Boy's been acting so…violent…,"

"But, Beast Boy has always had volatile substances inside him since the day we met him, why should this be any different?" Raven asked.

"Because Beast Boy's blood never contained nuclear compounds!" Cyborg spat. Starfire gasped in shock, but Raven kept her eyes wide open in surprise, "This list has been broken down to show me what exactly is in this tube. I recognize a few of these chemicals, but the rest I'm still in shock that there is such a massive quantity in here,"

"Well, from this list what do you know?" Robin asked him. Cyborg pointed to a small subcategory on the screen.

"These right here, with all of these combined they create the antidote I made for Beast Boy the first time he couldn't control his—," Cyborg just had an epiphany, and he turned around quickly to Starfire and Raven, "Starfire, Raven, go search Beast Boy's room. Remove anything suspicious," The girls nodded and headed out the room. Robin grabbed a chair and sat next to Cyborg as he began to type quickly on the computer.

"What are you thinking?" Robin commanded. Cyborg grunted.

"I believe Beast Boy is taking experimental medications to cure his disease," he said.

"What?" Robin said in shock.

"Yeah, I know. That's what I thought," Cyborg pulled up the results from his blood test.

"How do we get him back?" Robin asked.

"Well, I think the obvious thing to do is decontaminate him," Cyborg leaned back in his chair.

"Detox him?" Robin questioned.

"Yeah. Get rid of all that gunk in his blood. What I'll have to do is stick two needles in him, one in the vein and one in the artery. I'll connect those syringes to a machine that will take away most of these foreign metals inside of him out, especially the radioactive ones. The machine will suck up his blood through one end and filter out the bad stuff and then pump it back into his body, clean as it can be,"

"If you do that wouldn't you be removing the disease that gives him his powers?" Robin asked.

"No, his disease is a nerve virus, it's planted in his brain and there's no way to remove that," Cyborg explained, "which scares me,"

"How so?"

"I have a hunch that most of these compounds have already infiltrated his nervous system and attempted to attack his virus. That has to be the only reason that Beast Boy is injecting him with such dangerous chemicals. Because I'm pretty sure that you can't get a high from plutonium," When Cyborg finished his lecture the girls came back in with a small cardboard box. The boys turned around when the door closed behind them.

"Did you find anything?" Robin inquired. Starfire was quivering, but Raven nudged her to encourage her to show what they had found. And what they found was a shoe box. Starfire opened the box and showed it to Cyborg.

"Looks like we found out where all your syringes went, Cyborg," Raven stated. The box contained at least fifty used syringes. Cyborg shook his head in incredible anger. He couldn't believe that Beast Boy would do this to himself.

"Where did you find them?" Robin demanded.

"They were hidden deeply underneath his bed," Starfire mentioned. Cyborg sat back in his chair and crossed his arms in thought.

"Hopefully, with the detox, we may be able to retain some the normal parts of Beast Boy. At least he'll be rid of most of that poison," Cyborg thought aloud.

"And maybe…just maybe, he'll be able to talk to us about how he got these deadly compounds, and why he did it," Robin stated.

"So, what do you want us to do after that, Rob?" Cyborg asked. Robin stared at him and gave him some thought. Then he came to a decision.

"Cyborg, start the detox, then once you're finished, you and I will start to do some detailed research on these results you have. We need to find out what they are doing to Beast Boy," Cyborg nodded in agreement. Then Robin looked over at Starfire, "Starfire you will have the first watch on Beast Boy," Starfire also nodded silently, "Raven," she looked up "here," Robin handed her a small business card, "we may need some extra help," what he handed her was the business card for Dr. Register.

After the Titans were given their assignments it was well passed dusk and the sun began to set. Raven found herself in the kitchen area with the Tower phone in her hand and Dr. Register's card in the other ready to make the call. She stared down the small thick card investigating every speck of ink that was stamped to it.

Raven didn't know why, but from the sound of his name, Register, she did not trust him at all. She didn't even know why this mattered, if the Titans needed extra help to save Beast Boy then what's stopping her from doing it? Nevertheless, she decided to trust her instincts. She put the phone down and chose not to give the card back to Robin.

Therefore, the next place she found herself heading was back to the infirmary. Raven went down the elevator again for what seemed like the eleventh time that day. She walked out and began to head down to the infirmary. She opened the door and heard the gently beeping of Beast Boy's heart; what she saw was Starfire sitting in a chair next to Beast Boy in his bed, and Starfire looked up when she entered.

"Good evening, friend," Starfire spoke. Raven acknowledged her by walking towards the chair placed next to Starfire and took a seat.

"How is he?" Raven asked her while fanning herself. Starfire looked over her shoulder at Beast Boy. Beast Boy was lying on his bed perfectly still and extremely tense. So tense that his eyes were squinting and his mouth was frowning down as if he was in pain and trying to fight it off. His forehead had veins popping from it in anger. His lungs moved in short breaths and the air exited through his nose in huffs rather long relieving releases. His chest was tight, so tight that his muscles looked like they were about to burst out of his skin.

"He does not wake, so I am assuming that is not good," Starfire said softly. Raven softened at her innocence.

"No…that is never good," she said, and then she sighed, "at least, this may make him better," she referred to the large square metal machine that was attached to the wall above Beast Boy's head. Suddenly, the door behind Raven opened and Cyborg appeared.

"Hey, follow me to the lab, we may have an explanation for Beast Boy's problem," he said and then he walked out. The girls figured that Beast Boy would be fine by himself when they went to lab, since it was next door. So, they left to follow Cyborg. They entered the lab with Robin at one of the computers staring at some more results and going over some notes on paper in front of him. He turned when they walked in.

"So, what do you have?" Raven spoke first. Cyborg pulled out three chairs, one for each of the girls and one for him.

"You may want to sit down, this may take awhile," he said. Starfire and Raven agreed and sat down. Cyborg took in a deep breath and began.

"Okay, I'll try to make this easy enough to understand, but we may have found a diagnosis," he started. Starfire and Raven quietly listened, "Emotions in humans are caused by reactions from outside forces. Scientifically, emotions are caused by chemicals reacting in the brain, like dopamine is the chemical for pleasure and excitement," They all nodded and understood.

"There's another chemical called serotonin that also reacts in the brain. But, when serotonin goes off it causes anger and depression. What happened to Beast Boy, when he originally got soaked with that first chemical in that animal lab and first transformed, was that the chemicals from the lab infected his serotonin. It made it multiply and increased the quantity to very dangerous levels whenever he was angry, even as something as small as him being annoyed, it just increases constantly.

With this, his beast form transforms when he has too much serotonin, and that excessive chemical has no where to go, so it infects his entire mind. That's why he is so unresponsive and violent when he forms into that shape. He has no control and that's why he has no memory when he transforms," Cyborg finally finished his explanation and he hoped everyone there understood what he said. From the expression from everyone's faces it looked like they did, except for Starfire.

"I am still confused, Cyborg," Starfire chimed in, "how does this beast-form relate to the disease that he already has?"

"Actually, that's the kicker," he said, "it doesn't relate because his beast-form transformation is a completely different disease from the one he already has,"

"So, Beast Boy has two diseases?" Raven asked in concern. Cyborg nodded his head.

"Yeah, he does. But, Beast Boy believes that he only has one disease. So, he injected all these chemicals into him thinking that he's gonna cure his sakutia, but the only thing he's affecting right now is this beast-disease, which in the long run is making it worse,"

"This diagnosis of this new disease, also explains why Adonis could transform when they were both covered in that chemical," Cyborg explained.

"So, this disease can also infect regular human beings? Not that Beast Boy isn't a human being but, others do not have sakutia," Raven asked.

"Yes, this can infect others. But, the difference between other people and Beast Boy is that an average human being cannot survive the transformation for too long," Cyborg spoke.

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked.

"When Beast Boy transforms, he could last for days in that form, maybe even weeks, but that doesn't work for someone like Adonis who transformed for only one day, not to mention it was miracle that he was able to transform back to a human," he said. A silence spread throughout the room as this new information officially sunk in all four of the Titans there.

"So…I guess, the next question is…can you make a cure for this?" Raven asked this question in a very soft and fearful voice. Both Starfire and Robin had their eyes glued to every expression Cyborg made for a clue about what he would answer. Cyborg slowly drummed his metallic fingers against one another as he looked down putting deep thought into his answer, when he looked up at Raven ready to reveal what he had to say.

"No," that one answer felt like nails against Raven's heart, and she knew that everyone was feeling the same way, even Robin was too.

"But…," hope gleamed again in anticipation as well.

"I may be able to treat him," Cyborg explained, "There is absolutely no way to cure this thing because it's way too far into his system to get rid of it. It's already become a part of him.

"But, after his blood gets clean, I can start over. Run some molecular structure scans to see exactly what's happening. The problem is I can only go so far," The hope was slowly starting to fade, "this toxin is infecting his neuron chemicals, so there's no way to actually physically get rid of this disease unless I was to dissect his brain like some high school science project,"

"So, what's your plan of action?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"Well, once the detox is over, Beast Boy should mostly be back to his regular old self. But, we should still be very cautious around him. We need to keep him calm by any means necessary," He was looking directly at Robin. Robin just turned his head away.

"If we can keep him calm and relaxed, then hopefully that'll give me enough time to find a way to fix this, if he's willing," He finished.

"Let's hope so," Robin muttered. Before they knew a small red light was blinking next to Cyborg's large computer screen, and then Beast Boy's heart monitor screen popped up. Cyborg turned to see what was wrong.

"What's going on?" Raven asked.

"Beast Boy's awake, c'mon let's go," Cyborg got up and the rest of the team followed suit. The opened the door to the infirmary, and sure enough, Beast Boy was sitting up in his bed with his elbows resting on his bent knees, with needles and monitor pads covering every corner of his body. Beast Boy had his head down and didn't notice the others walking closer to him, but when they all stopped closer to his bedside he looked up and faced them. He took a deep breath in and sighed.

"I'm sorry…so sorry," he said hoarsely. Everyone there smiled at him, and Cyborg started to pat his back.

"It's alright, man. Everything is going to be fine," Cyborg encouraged him, and Beast Boy softened his tired face.

After Beast Boy had awakened, it was late at night. However, Cyborg and Robin stayed in there talking to Beast Boy about everything that had happened, and they were questioning him on many different things that have yet to be answered. Beast Boy definitely did not enjoy the questioning, especially since his body was completely exhausted, and he did not give them the answers that they wanted to hear. This, of course, did not go well with Robin, when Robin doesn't get answers the first time, he won't stop until he does. Cyborg unhooked Beast Boy from the machine that was filtering out his blood. He told him that he should have enough strength to sleep in his own room tonight. This news pleased Beast Boy, and he immediately put that news to good use. After that, all the Titans were relieved that the situation at hand has been handled; now they all felt that they could get some peaceful sleep, well, two of them anyway.

It was the afternoon the next day, and Raven was walking down the hallway heading towards Beast Boy's room. Beast Boy had been in his room all morning. He has yet faced his friends after he was finished in the infirmary. Raven wanted to talk to him to discuss what they had just endured this past week. Her hand, which Beast Boy bit into, was now wrapped and taped up in a new and clean bandage. She did attempt to heal it again, but her healing somehow did not do much, she still felt stinging and pain in her palm, and she did not know why especially when the skin seemed to be healed but it left a terrible green bruise underneath.

She stopped in front of Beast Boy's closed door. She kept her silence to see if she could hear anything particular coming from his room. However, she heard nothing, but the silence. Raven sighed and calmly knocked on the door.

"Beast Boy?" Raven called. She heard a small ruffling noise and some heavy breathing. Now it was obvious that he was alive in there, next was to get him to answer the door. She knew a forceful approach wasn't going to get them anywhere so she decided to relax and reason.

"Beast Boy, listen…I believe we need to talk…," she said softly, a tiny growl could be heard on the other side.

"I know you probably don't want to, but a little talking wouldn't hurt anyone," Raven finished and she waited outside. She wasn't going to give up, so she stood there for several long minutes for him to open the door. Raven wasn't expecting him to even allow her in; she just wanted to see him. However, he did not oblige.

"Look, I'm not Robin or Cyborg. I'm not going to reprimand you of what happened in these past few days…" she listened intently so she could hear him move, then she sighed.

"I just don't want you to be alone," she finished again and waited. Raven stood there and heard nothing but the silence around her. She sighed to herself again and began to turn around to walk away. That was until she heard his door open behind her, and then turned again to see Beast Boy standing in the door way.

Beast Boy's body was completely exhausted. Raven could tell immediately by how he held himself, and how often he would breathe in. His face was sunken with black bags under his eyes, his hair was flat and untidy, and he looked positively thin underneath his tight uniform.

"Can…can we go somewhere else?" he asked her gently.

"Of course, what did you have in mind?"

They flew in the sky. Beast Boy was in hawk form as Raven flew gently behind him. She didn't know where she was taking him, but she had a small hunch. It was soon realized that he was taking her back to the outskirts of the city, and back into that forest where he was once found before the cruise ship attack. They landed in a small clearing. Beast Boy transformed back into human as Raven touched down. Beast Boy didn't say anything, but continued to walk and Raven did the same. They stopped at the same small cliff that Raven found Beast Boy not even a few weeks ago. Beast Boy sat at the edge, and Raven did the same. They looked outward to sea, and Jump City glistening in the evening light.

Raven turned to look at Beast Boy; she noticed that he was calmer and at peace then he was at the Tower. She turned her head again before he could realize that she had done so.

Raven didn't enjoy the silence much longer, so she began to speak up.

"So…this is a nice place," she said, "you come out here often?" Beast Boy kept his focus straight ahead and was making absolutely sure not to show any emotion, he knew she would pick it up.

"Yeah, as often as I can, I try to come out here to think, but now I usually come out here when…well, when my powers get out of hand," he said.

Raven nodded and decided not to press the matter further. "So…how are you?" This question was the only Raven knew how to start up a conversation with. Beast Boy didn't look at her.

"Been better," he said. Raven nodded her head slowly, and she began to take off her hood to show her face.

"I think you know why we need to talk," she said getting serious, "and I think we both know what we need to talk about,"

"What's the point? You already know everything," Beast Boy said with a bite in his voice.

"That's not true, I only know how you're feeling. I don't know what you are thinking, but I know what the results are from you're thoughts and…just to put it lightly, they are not very…pleasant," Raven said softly, "In order to resolve your problems—,"

"And what is going to help my problems, Raven?" He raised his voice. He turned his body to look at her, "Cuz it's not going to be resolved with a light conversation! No! I've been going that crap all my life! And I don't need--,"

"I'm sorry," Raven suddenly interrupted him. The fierce look on his face softened.

"What?" he said quickly.

"I'm sorry…," Raven bowed her head and closed her eyes, and then she turned her head to make eye contact with him, "…for everything you've been through…I had no idea," A small silence spread inside the space between them, "you are definitely a lot stronger then I am," she dryly joked at herself.

"What're you saying?" Beast Boy asked. Raven pulled her knees up.

"I'm saying if I went through half of the terrible things that have happened to you over your life…I would have to be institutionalized," Beast Boy almost took the offensive on her comment, but decided to let her continue.

"But, here you are, still living, still the same person you always were, and you still have that same smile on your face. That's something I admire about you Beast Boy. You always look to the future with optimism and you hide everything about yourself," Raven glanced over at Beast Boy again, he was staring out in the ocean supporting himself on his hands behind him. Raven's lips curved slightly, "I don't know how you do it though."

Beast Boy looked over at her, "do what?"

"How you can withstand all that pain, all that negative energy, and all that rage. I felt your raw emotion in that brief amount of time that night, and the weight of it all flowing through me…was unbearable…," Beast Boy furrowed his brow, and she turned away from him again and spoke, "for a moment, I felt like I wasn't going to survive,"

Beast Boy softened, "I guess…when you feel all that within a small amount of time…it does kinda get unbearable."

"You're telling me," Raven joked softly, "I'm surprised I didn't blow up the tower last night,"

"Yeah," Beast Boy chuckled. Suddenly, he had an epiphany, "Hey, why didn't you blow up the tower?" Raven looked at him weirdly.

"What?" she asked raising her brow.

"Well, aren't your powers suppose to act all crazy when you feel extreme emotion?" he asked her curiously. Raven saw his point, and answered.

"Only when it's my own emotion," she replied. Beast Boy was confused.

"But, you still felt it last night," he said.

"Yes, but it wasn't my emotion," she retorted, "It was yours,"

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," he said turning his head back to face the ocean sea. They were both silent for a time. Raven kept her stare closely on him while Beast Boy was thinking.

"You want to know something?" Raven started off. Beast Boy turned in response to listen to her.

"What?" he said softly.

"You and I aren't very different from each other," she stated. Beast Boy had to smile at her words.

"Really? What makes you say that?" he sarcastically chuckled in his throat.

"You disagree with me?" she said.

"Yeah, I do actually, we're totally different," He retorted, "Humor me, how are we the same?"

"Alright…well to start off," she started, "we're both superheroes,"

"That's a given," he said.

"We both have unfortunate past lives," she said.

"Well, yeah, I can agree to that," he agreed.

"We don't exactly have the best track record in dating,"

"Yeah…can't really argue with that one,"

"And…we both enjoy stories,"

"No, I don't like to read as often as you do,"

"Alright, you don't like to read, but you do enjoy hearing about stories, whether you are watching television or reading comic books, you still enjoy stories just in a different way," she explained.

"Well, yeah that's true, but I'll bet I don't like the same _type_ of stories as you. You're more into those really hard to read suspenseful fantasy stories; I'm more into those funny yet very actiony kinda stories,"

"Okay, I'll agree I will read novels that test my intellect, but in the matter of us interested in different genres, we're still not that different,"

"You're telling me, that you read action stories?"

"Of course, all the time actually,"

"Wait, wait, so every time you are reading in the living room, you are reading a story with some kind of hero that slays bad guys with either guns, swords, or any futuristic sort of weaponry that will create oodles of gory guts in order to save mankind?"

"Yep,"

"You do realize the next time I catch you reading I'm going to steal your book,"

"I highly doubt you'll get that close,"

"Okay, okay, enough of that," he finished that subject, "so, what else do you think we have in common?"

"Well…we both hide our feelings," he looked down. He was silent for a while as he absorbed her words into his thoughts. He knew she was right though, as she usually is. He still tried to prove her wrong on some level.

"But…you're not allowed to feel and I am," he uttered softly under his breath.

"Yes…but you agree with me that you are hiding what you feel?" she asked.

He silently nodded.

"So, I at least know what you are putting yourself through. I can understand you better than the others would," Raven replied.

"So, can you tell me how to deal with it, then?"

"I don't believe there is a way…but then, your case is not that similar to mine. You are allowed to express yourself freely yet you choose not to. As in my case, I choose not to express myself because I'm not allowed to," he silently listened to her in sympathy for her, "So, the only advice that I can give to you is to just go ahead and express yourself, both the good and the bad. The only person it will affect the most is you,"

"I…I don't know…if I can…,"

"You can, you just need to have confidence in yourself. And don't be afraid of what other people will think of you, what you feel will only matter to you," she reassured him by placing her hand over his, "and I'm here for you, so you can tell me what's going on. I will listen," she finished, and then Beast Boy shook his head.

"Nah, you don't want to listen to me blabbing on about how crappy my life is and how bad it was in the past. It's probably not as bad as I think it is, so it'd be just a waste of time," he tried to defend himself.

"No it will not. It won't be a waste of time because I never waste my time. And the fact is I do want to listen to you. I want to know face behind the superhero that the world sees you as. I want to know you,"

"Why? Why do you care to know about me?"

"Because you are a bigger mystery than you think you are, Beast Boy, and it's a mystery that I have been trying to solve ever since I met you," she saw him smile at bit, but still saw a small glimpse of confusion in his eyes.

"You know that I can feel emotions from others who are around me, right? When I first met you, you played the happy go lucky kid who never put a frown on his face, and I saw that. But what confused me about you is that you were hurting on the inside and I didn't know why. And back then I didn't care because it wasn't my business to know, and I didn't want to find out for fear of getting close to you and to anyone at that time. But, things have changed, and we all have changed too. Now, I want to know," Raven finished her reasons which had Beast Boy listening intently to every word. With every word moved him deeply. He was slowly starting to break his barrier.

"Tell me what's been bothering you for the past few weeks," she said with a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh…I don't know," he swept a hand through his hair; "a lot of things have been bugging me recently. Everything I think about causes this uncontrollable anger,"

"Like what? What do you think about?"

"Well, I guess to start off…when I'm alone…I think of the city, and how bad the crime is, and I wonder if there are any good people outside of us out there. I think of the team and our purpose and if people really care about how much effort we put in to our job, and if it's really worth it long run. I think of Robin and how uptight he is all the time, but I realize it's for good reasons even though I may not think so sometimes. I wonder if he will ever see me as a…friend instead of a business partner, I guess. And if he'll stop treating me like I'm just there and I have no where else to go.

Then I think about him and Starfire dating and how I am slightly jealous of their strong relationship. Cyborg and how I wish was I was as cool as him. I think of you and I wish that I was as smart as you, had more self-control like you do. And I wish that we had a stronger friendship…" he started to fade into a silent pause. Raven encouraged him.

"Go on," she said.

"I think about the Doom Patrol, and wonder what they're doing and why they don't keep contact with me. I think about the news, and then I hear something bad about some country in Africa because of all the civil wars going on and then I start to think about my old life there. I wonder if the tribe I use to live at still exists, if the people there are okay, if the lab my family use to work at still exists. Then I start to think about my parents…," He started to tear up and his voice started to crack.

"I often wonder about what would have happened if my parents were still alive, and then that reminds me that it was my fault that they died. I wonder if they were ever proud of me, or would they be upset at me because I'm not good enough at anything. I wonder what they think of me because I don't know how do even the simple things like doing something nice for a friend, meeting new people, say the right things, or even know when to keep my big mouth shut.

I can't fight crime right, I can't save enough lives, I…just…can't do anything!" He stood up and kicked the ground with his feet.

"I can't even say a stupid joke right, and even when I do try to do something right, I mess it up, and I set this image for myself that I'm some stupid immature kid like I'm the big idiot of the Teen Titans!" He sat back down again and wiped his tears and sighed. Raven placed her comforting hand on his shoulder again and rubbed it softly. He continued to choke a bit on his tears.

"I just…wonder what could've been. I know that's bad for me, but I just can't help it. I feel like there's no one to talk to, no one would understand what I'm saying, and even if they did I don't believe they would know what to do. I've tried talking to Cyborg but he just shoved it off and says 'let's go play some video games, that ought to cheer you up,' but it doesn't. Nothing does. Nothing ever does," Beast Boy threw a rock across the way.

"Beast Boy…," she started.

"Ugh, I even hate the name I gave myself. See? I even mess up on my own name,"

"Well, what do you prefer to be called?"

"Even my real name sounds stupid, so I don't know; at this point I'm not worthy enough to even have a name,"

"Well, your parents didn't think so when they were naming you, so your name isn't bad," she pointed out.

"My parents did call me Gar from time to time," he said rubbing the loose tears hanging on his cheeks with his forearm, "I guess…that would be reasonable,"

"So, would you like me to call you Gar, more often?"

"…I guess,"

"Alright then," she agreed, "How do you feel after all that?"

"Clinically depressed," he said. Raven rolled her eyes.

"Okay, but do you at least feel relieved?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

"Then that's a start," she said, "Look, you're right by saying there's not much I can do to help solve all your problems. I believe most of your problems you may have to solve yourself," he bowed his head in disappointment.

"But…maybe the one thing you need right now is a friend," she said, "and not just another acquaintance and not just another teammate. I mean a better friend who would want to hang out with you on your terms,"

"And who is willing do something like that and where would I find this friend?"

"Well, I'm willing,"

"Yeah, okay, you don't even hang out with me before any of this happened,"

"Exactly…," she said sadly, she removed her hand from his shoulder to cross it with her other arm to shield herself, "maybe this time I can prove to you that I'm not just some creepy girl locked away in her room with a bunch of spell books. I think if we spent some more time together we could become better friends, and in the long run maybe I'll redeem myself for not hanging out with you in the past, and you may forget all your troubles," Beast Boy looked up at her with a fearful expression, yet there was a small hint of hope that gleamed on his face. He really hoped that this would work out, and maybe he wouldn't feel so lonely all the time.

"So, what do you say? May I be your friend…," Raven extended a hand for him to shake in agreement.

"…Gar?" Beast Boy stared down her hand and looked up at her genuine expression several times. He sighed and gave in.

"Okay," he simply said, and took her hand and shook it lightly.

"Okay," she responded with a small smile.

"Thanks, Raven. This actually helped,"

"That's good to know, I'm glad I can help you,"

"I think it would help more if we did this more often, not the 'me venting my feelings' part, but the 'get-to-know-you' part," Raven softly smiled at his lack of words.

"I would like that, but if you need to vent, I'm here for you too,"

"I'll keep that in mind," he said and with that they finally let go of each other's hand along with a small moment of silence.

"So, I think you need a good pick-me-up after all that," she said, "do you want to go get some pizza? I'm starving,"

"Sure, I could go for some pizza,"

"Alright, let's go,"

* * *

**Well, I hope everyone enjoyed that. And, I've noticed...looking back at all these chapters and I leave these little comments at the end, asking for "constructive criticism." I think I've reached the point where I could just care less. Ha ha. You could just put "I've read it," and I'd be happy. At least I know people still enjoy this as much as I do. Anyway, I really do appreciate all the people who are still reading this story. And I understand your frustration, but the main reason of why I don't update as much as I should is just one reason and that is...the world just plain sucks. So, thanks for R&R!**

* * *


	8. Ch 7: The Chemicals Between Us

**The Beast Returns Ch. 7 - The Chemicals Between Us**

Beast Boy and Raven decided to head to their favorite pizza place downtown Jump City. They were inside this time since they were doing renovations on the exterior. The inside smelled of burnt cheese and green peppers and the walls were a stained beige color with vintage Italian posters on every wall. The restaurant was slammed packed in the entire place since the outside shut down, all the red booths were filled with every teen and college kid in the city, but the waitress was able to sit them down in the smallest table in the back corner of the building. It was still loud, but hopefully no one would be able to notice that two Teen Titans were sitting there.

The waitress placed their medium cheese pizza in the middle of their table. Both Beast Boy and Raven grabbed a slice and placed it on their plates in front of them. Beast Boy immediately began to dig in while Raven patiently did the same.

"So, Beast—," she stopped herself, but Beast Boy still looked up, "I mean, Gar."

"You know you don't have to call me that if you don't want to," he mentioned to her.

"No, no, I want to. It's just…I've been calling you Beast Boy since the day I met you, so you're going to have give me time before I get used to it," she said taking a small bite into her pizza. Beast Boy smiled and went back to his.

"How's your hand?" he asked sincerely. Raven looked down at her hand, and for a moment forgot that it was still wrapped up; she hadn't tried to heal it since the last time she was in the infirmary.

"It's fine…hurts every now and then, but…it's nothing I can't handle," she replied softly placing her good hand underneath her chin.

"I'm so sorry about that. Really, I am," he said sadly, guilty. Raven showed him a small sympathy smile.

"You don't need to worry about me. We're here to talk about you," Beast Boy tensed up a bit at that. Of course he was afraid of the upcoming conversation, he still wasn't sure if he was ready.

"So, why don't we start from the beginning? Tell me about your childhood," she asked him. Beast Boy side glanced her.

"Oh, you don't want to hear about that. That's where all the bad stuff started," he replied.

"We don't need to discuss the bad things. You mentioned that you use to live in Africa. I mean that in itself had to be an incredible experience. I bet you had adventures everyday," she leaned forward to listen better. Beast Boy smirked and put his pizza down, so his food wouldn't distract him.

"You'd lose that bet. It wasn't as exciting as it sounds," he commented. Raven didn't believe him.

"Oh, come on, I'm sure you at least saw all sorts of interesting animals," she paused, "But, maybe it wasn't as exciting to you because you were born there, right?" He smirked again at her curiosity.

"Actually, no, I wasn't born there," he said, "I was born here,"

"Really? In Jump City?" she asked.

"Yeah, actually, my parents have a house here and…that's where I was born and raised…for a short period of time," he mentioned.

"So, do you know where your house is?" she asked. Beast Boy's smile faded.

"Um, no…I…don't know where it is," he said sadly, "but, I know it's somewhere around here,"

"Have you ever tried to look?" she asked. Beast Boy thought about it for a moment, trying to think if he ever did attempt to do so, or even in that matter, thought of it.

"No, I…don't think I have. I mean, after my parents passed, life just seemed to…whirlwind out of control and it hasn't stopped since," he said. Raven listened.

"How so?" she asked. Beast Boy didn't like this part. A little sad smile plagued his face; he looked down to break eye-contact with her and twiddled his thumb inside his fist.

"I…thought we weren't going to talk about the bad stuff," he mentioned. Raven smiled softly at him.

"We're not, you don't have to tell me about it, just tell me how you got back here," she replied. Raven hoped that this would keep it simple, she just wanted him to open up a little bit.

"Well, that involves some bad stuff…but don't worry about it," Raven opened her mouth and was about to interrupt him, but he reassured her then she closed it and let him continue.

"Um…well, after my parents'…um…passing, the chief of the village that I was living at took me in, and…I thought things would be okay…for a moment. Then this scientist who was working for my Mom and Dad took me away from the village to live in his private lab just up the river. I didn't like it at first because…I really liked living in the village. Any lab just reminded me of my parents. But…I didn't have a say in it, I was still too young.

"His name was Samuel Register…" Raven eyes grew wide at the sound of his name. The memory of her with the phone in the Tower with his card in her hand ready to call was fresh in her mind. Suddenly, things starting clicking together like magnets. This might just give her the answers she'd been waiting for.

"My Mom and Dad trusted him like family, so they told me to call him Uncle Samuel. He never did like me calling him Uncle Sam, since that was easier to say when I was a kid; apparently he didn't like the original Uncle Sam. I remember my Dad would call him that just to get a rise out of him," Raven smiled a little when he chuckled softly. He continued.

"Anyway…I lived with him for a good while. And…I almost loved him as much as my Dad and I would always appreciate him for taking me in...But…," Beast Boy's thoughts continued to sway way off course when he thought more about the mad scientist that was after him now.

"But?" Raven said.

"But…as I think about it now, back then…I think he just wanted to…use me," Beast Boy stopped telling his story. He was reliving his past in that moment, in those short years that he stayed with his Uncle Samuel; all those times Register gave him these "check ups" to make sure he didn't get anymore African diseases. He remembered how many times he was stuck with a needle and everything was starting to connect in his mind. Sparks were going off in his head, and flames grew higher with hate in his heart when he thought about the man who had done this to him. He didn't love him; he just wanted to use him, even back then when he didn't know it. He had zoned out for only a few moments when Raven called out his name again and snapped him out of it.

"You okay?" she said with a soft concern. Beast Boy's eyes snapped to hers and a thought popped into his mind.

In that instant, he realized that he could not do this by himself. He needed someone to be there for him no matter who it was, and the only person who was willing was sitting right there in front of him. He realized he did not have to be alone. His breath quickened, almost like he was about to cry, but this was just how he tried to hide his anger when it was too much for him.

"Raven…," he started, "…I need your help…and…I think you're the only person I can trust to help me,"

"Okay," she responded without hesitation, but with mild bit of question, "what is it?"

Beast Boy swallowed any remains of moisture in his throat out of nervousness. He took in a deep dry breath and blew it out slowly.

"I'm going to tell you everything," he said softly.

"Everything?" she asked.

"Yeah…everything. From who attacked me on the cruise ship to why I've been acting like…um…uh…,"

"…a total jerk?" she finished with emphasis. Beast Boy threw her a look, Raven just shrugged.

"Um…I was going for animal, but, yeah, total jerk works too," he said.

"Gar, what's going on?" she asked getting somewhat impatient. He sighed.

"My Uncle is in town," he said in all seriousness.

"What?" she asked disappointed, and annoyed at him for putting her in suspense because she already knew that, but then immediately realized that she had the wrong reaction to that answer. He didn't know that she knew.

"My Uncle…Dr. Register…he's here, and he's the reason behind everything. He's the reason I've been acting this way, the reason why I'm always angry, the reason I keep transforming into the beast, and he's the one who attacked me on the ship."

She didn't know that. Raven began to make sense of all the things he was saying, and she was glad for trusting her instincts when it came to calling the doctor for help. Suddenly the waitress came to fill their drinks, Raven and Beast Boy stared at her for a few moments and the waitress gave off a rehearsed smile and then walked away.

Raven suddenly realized the danger of this information and decided to get up from her seat across from him and sat down right next to him so they could whisper to each other.

"You're serious?" she whispered to him, and getting closer to him. Beast Boy stared at her in fear. Raven pulled her plate of pizza to her side and started to tear bits off of it.

"Yes…he's been contacting me for the past few weeks, I first saw him on the ship…when I went down below,"

"How…," she stuttered a bit, "…I mean, that doesn't make sense. How was he on the ship?"

"He's the one that started the fire. He knew that I was a Titan and he did it to grab my attention. He thought it would be funny to him if he attacked a type of boat that day," he said in disgust. Raven was confused. Beast Boy saw her face chewing a small bit of pizza in her mouth, and told her quickly.

"Oh…uh…my parents died in a boating accident…fell down a steep waterfall," he said softly. Raven gave him a look of sympathy.

"Gar…I'm sorry—," Beast Boy interrupted her with a wave of his hand.

"S'okay, it's fine, um… he felt it was necessary to attack me on _that_ particular day, since the day of the cruise ship was the same day that they died," he went on.

"…that's…horrible…what an evil thing to do," Raven whispered mostly to herself. Beast Boy saw her expression and felt comfort that someone felt the same way as he did. But after all, she is Raven; emotional catastrophes are her specialty, "what…what did he do to you?" Beast Boy took in a deep breath. Raven popped another small piece of pizza inside her mouth.

"Well…um, he knew that I would already be upset that day…and he knew I would be on the verge of self-pity. So, he attacked me to rile me up some more," he said.

"Why was he trying to rile you up?" she asked.

"He wanted me to transform into the beast," he said simply, "and it worked. Apparently…ticking me off makes me change when I don't want to. So, he wanted me to transform so he could try out his new cure on me," Raven's eyes widened with shock.

"_What_? He's the one who's been injecting you?" she shouted faintly in a whisper.

"Yeah, you'd think I would do that to myself?" he asked. Raven couldn't believe what she was hearing. She took a small pause to re-group herself momentarily.

"Well, yes, I did think you would do that to yourself, we all did," she stated, "It just made sense…you were angry all the time and we thought you were juicing yourself up to be better out in the field," Beast Boy shook his head.

"No…I know better than that," He said. Raven sighed in frustration.

"So…one thing doesn't make sense…," she whispered, "why was he…injecting you with these untested cures in the first place?" Beast Boy sighed deeply and thoughtfully looked straight at the book that Raven originally sat at.

"Samuel's…been kinda obsessed with finding a cure for sakutia…ever sense my Dad used his serum on me the day that I was bitten," he explained. He took a small sip of his drink to clear his voice so it was easier to talk at a lower volume.

"Samuel's been unable to recreate what my Dad just stumbled on. So, he's been trying to find cures to this disease and then use it to find the secret to universal immunity. So, he's been making all these serums to test out, but the only person to try it on was himself."

"Himself? So, now he has your powers?" she asked fearfully. Beast Boy hesitated. Raven finished her slice and gently took another one from the pan and took a generous bite out of it. Beast Boy stared at her curious for a second, but then went on.

"Yeah…except his is a little more extreme than mine. For one, his skin is all…scaly and purple instead of green, and now his blood is basically unusable for new cures…so, he needed a new test subject, which was when he thought of me. And…I guess he just figured out the beast thing on his own, and thought it had something to do with his research….he was in for a surprise though…none of his tests worked and all it did was piss me off even more."

Raven rivaled in her head over this new information from Beast Boy. She was still surprised about the connection with Dr. Register, but the same time she didn't expect anything different. However, there were still some facts that clouded her mind from her experience throughout this whole ordeal.

"Gar, last night before you woke up…Cyborg and the rest of us were digging around trying to figure out what was wrong with you…,"

"And…?" he asked. Raven swallowed the bite she was chewing on.

"…Starfire and I found a box of syringes underneath your bed. If he was injecting you with cures…then why was that there?" Raven asked softly. Beast Boy pondered on the memory of injecting that green medicine in him. That time that he was first injected with a serum Register had created.

"I was…using the syringes to inject myself with the antidote that Cy made for the first time I changed," he said, "basically I was trying to cancel out the cures that Register injected into me first. When he did inject me, I was in terrible pain, I couldn't control what I would transform, so my body was transforming on its own without me. Taking that antidote calmed it down a bit, but I still have this wild animal-like instinct inside me. I'm so afraid that I'm going to lose control over it anytime. I tried to give it what it wanted by eating some fresh meat, but that didn't do anything,"

"That would explain the pile of dead fish at our shore, and why you wouldn't eat with us," Raven said with a grimace on her face. She couldn't forget the horrible stench. She took another bite.

"You found that?" Raven nodded…Beast Boy sighed, "well, I didn't really hide it well. So…the antidote was the only way, I took it as often as I could without any of you seeing. I think…I became a little addicted to it,"

"A little?" Beast Boy gave her a small mild glare. Raven ignored him by focusing her attention on the pizza again.

"I don't do it anymore, I have no reason to," he said, Raven swallowed and ate again, "I've been more down in the dumps then angry. Plus, Cyborg ran out." He laughed once sadly.

She looked down at the table and started to roll up a small piece of napkin between her fingers and started to think. Finally, while realizing that Beast Boy was the innocent party in this situation brought a strange enormous feeling of relief. However, thoughts of Register trying to take her teammate away were swirling around in her mind. She was concern because she knew that he could still try again, and she believed that he would. Her friends were the most important priority in her life, and she wasn't about to let some crazy scientist get in the way of that.

"You need protection," she said and then gently held his hands in her own on the table looking deeply into his eyes to convince him. She saw and felt how fearful and pathetic he felt, but it didn't matter. It was the right thing to do.

"From what? Him? Nah, he can come if he wants, I'll be ready," he said with a strange like confidence.

"Beast—Gar, Register already contacted us," she whispered. Beast Boy's eyes widened.

"What?" He didn't feel the need to tell her about the name thing, what she just said clouded his mind with a sudden wave of anger.

"When you transformed last night, Cyborg and Starfire went after you and found you in a warehouse with Register leaning over you and he changed you back into your human form. He gave Cyborg his card, and Robin is considering his help to cure you,"

"That evil monster has no intention of curing me! Only to kill me so he can get some stupid glory. We can't let Robin go through with that!" Beast Boy shouted very quietly.

"I know, I know. You have to tell them what's happening. We can't let this continue without this information. And when we do, we'll fight him as a team," Raven explained to him. Beast Boy looked down at the table contemplating, and finally noticed their hands. In that moment he internally laughed and thought about what an interesting scene this moment was with Raven comforting him. A smile escaped and grew on his face.

Then he noticed the bandage around her right hand. The guilt suddenly consumed him. He still could not believe how uncontrollably evil he was that night. Beast Boy slowly removed his hands from hers, and this in turn made Raven to retract as well. The smile was gone, and he was thinking again. He still wouldn't forgive himself for that.

"What about me?" he asked her softly. Raven looked confused when he looked up waiting for her to answer.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Putting Register away doesn't change the fact that I'm still dangerous," he stated looking down and away from her.

"Do you think we wouldn't help you? We'll find a way," she said simply. Beast Boy still continued to look down.

"Yeah, a way that involves chains and tranquilizer guns," he said crudely. Raven sighed and took her hand away from the table and placed them neatly in her lap.

"Alright, fine, we may have to do that, but we're going to try not to," she said softly. The corners of Beast Boy's mouth curved slightly.

"I need to tell them then," he said slowly. Raven nodded in agreement. Raven asked for the check and they quickly left to head back to their home.

When Beast Boy and Raven came back to the Tower is was late-afternoon and the Tower was uninterestingly quiet. The two of them walked slowly out of the elevator on the top floor inside Titans Tower, they were both heading towards the Operations room to tell the others about Register and his terrifying psychotic plans for Beast Boy. Raven walked beside him, fanning herself with her undamaged left hand along the way and was dripping with sweat. Beast Boy noticed this and felt comfortable enough to ask.

"You okay?" he asked with his hands in his pockets. Raven looked over to him with a sardonic look.

"It's nothing, I just suddenly had this huge heat wave come over me," she explained. Beast Boy raised his brow.

"Does that happen often?" he asked again.

"I guess," She said, "I think Cyborg turned up the heat in here, that's all."

"I'm not hot," he said as a matter-of-fact. Raven rolled her eyes.

"Lucky you," she said sarcastically. Raven quickly glanced over her damp leotard and groaned. "Ugh, this is ridiculous, I'm going to shower."

"Wait, Raven," Beast Boy gently grabbed her arm to stop her from heading to her room. Raven looked at him with question.

"I…don't know what I should say to the team…um…I would really appreciate it if you were there with me…to tell them about…um…," he stuttered on his words, he was turning slightly red for asking this, but it didn't feel right without her there. Raven impassively side-glanced.

"You want me there when we talk about Register?" Beast Boy gulped when she said this.

"Yeah," he said defeated. Raven shrugged.

"Alright," she said nonchalantly, and Beast Boy smirked.

"So, dinner's good?" she asked and Beast Boy stared at her confused.

"Didn't you just eat like four slices of pizza?" he asked. Raven rolled her eyes.

"No…I was asking if we should tell them over dinner. You look a little shaken to tell them now," she said softly.

"Oh," Beast Boy muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed of what he just said. Then he smiled a bit and said, "Yeah, dinner's good." Raven agreed and then she suddenly grimaced.

"What?" he asked reacting to her disgruntled face.

"Well, now that you mentioned it, I am suddenly hungry," she said bluntly. Beast Boy laughed.

"I swear, Raven, you don't eat enough. What are you made of again? Herbal tea and incense?" he laughed again. Raven glared.

"I'll have you know, that my eating habits are perfectly normal," she said to intimidate him, but he didn't feel that effect. Beast Boy raised his brow at her again. Raven stared at him and licked the inside of her mouth at his reaction, annoyed.

"Alright fine, my appetite's a little whack, but it's nothing to be concerned about. So what if I have to eat two bowls of cereal in the morning and two extra pizzas at lunch? It's nothing," she tried to explain to him. Suddenly, Beast Boy's smile faded into a frown of realization and fear.

"Do you have mood swings?" he asked her worriedly. Raven pulled out her signature death-glare at him for that remark, as if he didn't already know. Beast Boy rolled his eyes.

"I mean, are you moodier than usual? Do you feel more annoyed than you usually do, especially these past few days? Or Angrier?" he asked her seriously. Raven, this time, raised her brow in confusion. She thought about the past few days, quickly went over the events and silently shook her head.

"No," she muttered. Beast Boy sighed in relief, Raven didn't know exactly what he was thinking but she definitely knew what he was feeling. Self-guilt, she swears, has been the emotional choice of the month for Beast Boy. If that was the only thing he was feeling in that moment she wouldn't have noticed it. However, now he felt afraid and worried and it wasn't for him it was…for her?

"Okay, well, enjoy your shower," he said and then he left her in the hallway to go into the Operations Room. Beast Boy was off to find the others. Usually, he would be going into the Ops. to watch television or play video games, but he just didn't feel like doing those things today. But, if Cyborg was playing he figured he might as well join him for the sake of sanity. However, he knew where his mind would be the entire time he was playing and that would be replaying the upcoming conversation about Register to his other teammates. He kept wondering how to start off, he wasn't sure if he should start it by having Raven speak first or him, or if he should start snapping at Robin for considering the psycho's help.

Turns out, when Beast Boy walked through the door to the Ops, Cyborg was in fact sitting on the couch, but not playing video games. Instead he was watching the evening news. Beast Boy decided not to ask questions but just join him on the couch. He sat down on the far right end while Cyborg was somewhat in the middle with his feet propped up onto the yellow circled coffee table.

"Hey man," Cyborg said to him as he sat down.

"Hey dude," Beast Boy replied back. He crossed his arms and his legs and just watched what was on. It almost felt like everything was back to normal.

Later in the evening, all five Titans pulled apart the black couch to make five individual seats for each of them and elevated the coffee table up for dinner. Tonight, the five teens felt that they should take a break from pizza and try something a little more cultural on the other end of the earth, and that was…Chinese food. Each of them were eating silently and keeping mostly to themselves. Robin kept his eyes to his food, while Starfire sat on his right side eating happily even though she was not talking. Raven sat to her right eating sesame chicken and lo mein with a steaming cup of herbal tea and using her left hand since her right was still wrapped up and in a throbbing pain again. Beast Boy sat next to her, and then Cyborg sat next to him eating a dumpling in one bite.

Beast Boy had barely touched his tofu fried rice when he glanced over towards Raven who was sitting to his left side. He was hoping that they would make eye contact and wishing that she would have some sort of last minute insight of wisdom for him before he began.

Raven caught his glance in mid-chew. She swallowed then tilted her head towards the middle of the table, gesturing him to go ahead and start. Beast Boy took in a deep breath through his nose so that no one, except for Raven, would notice. He sat up a little more and began.

"Um…hey…guys," he said insecurely. Jeez, it was like standing at a Press conference! Beast Boy can imagine him standing behind the podium forgetting his notes. He didn't know why it bothered him so much, why it was so hard to say the right words. It was his friends…his family…the four greatest people he's ever known, and even though one of them already knew, it was still hard. But, he still continued.

"I, um…need to tell you guys something. Uh, something important…important for all of us. But, first…I wanted to thank all of you guys for putting up with me and all my beast-craziness," Beast Boy smiled when Cyborg chuckled shortly. Raven smiled too.

"I wanted to tell you how much I truly appreciate all of you, and…how very happy I am to have you guys as my friends. And um…I'm very sorry for everything I've put you through, I really am," he finished. He felt a cool metal hand pop him hard on the back.

"Apology accepted, man," Cyborg said with a grin. Beast Boy again smiled at Cyborg's easy-going mood. He looked at Raven and saw that she was still smiling at him. Starfire had a wide grin on her face as well, and clapped her hands together. Last, Robin looked…impressed. Beast Boy guessed that Robin thought he would never apologize for what happen, even though it wasn't his fault at all. Which reminded Beast Boy, and he cleared his throat. However, before Beast Boy could speak…

"Well, Beast Boy, it's alright. We forgive you and everything, but we're still not out of the woods yet," Robin said to him. Beast Boy was about to agree, but Robin continued.

"You are still sick, and we need to make sure that none of this will happen again," he said. Beast Boy nodded.

"I promise it won't, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that it doesn't," Beast Boy said with determination. Robin nodded his head earnestly.

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. So…it's time for the next step," he said and looked to Cyborg. Cyborg nodded softly. Raven stared at the two of them confused, and then she looked to Starfire who was also looking at Robin and Cyborg, but it seemed she was in on it.

"We've decided to suspend you from the team and put you under house arrest," Robin stated. Cyborg and Starfire looked down in guilt. Beast Boy was surprised.

"What?" he exasperated. Raven was also shocked.

"_What?"_ Raven shouted as well, "Why wasn't I included in this decision?" Raven demanded. Robin looked at her.

"You weren't around, this decision involved immediate action. We knew what you would have said."

"I would have said no!" Raven argued. She paused, and then said, "This is unnecessary. He's done nothing wrong."

"This is in no way permanent," Robin said. Beast Boy finally relaxed into his seat, but Raven was still steaming, "we can't afford Beast Boy to be out fighting right now when he is so unpredictable and unstable. He cannot be in public either, we don't know what triggers his transformation and until we do, he stays here in the tower, for the safety of the city."

"Also, I'm gonna be working on him," Cyborg cut in. Beast Boy and Raven looked up at him, "I'm gonna be working to find anything to help Beast Boy control this. Whether that means, harnessing it, taming it, or destroying it, I don't know. But, I will find way. And finding that way may involve testing and experimentation for days. Even if Beast Boy wasn't suspended, he still wouldn't be allowed to leave."

Raven felt a little reassured after this, but it still didn't wane her anger and frustration, especially at the fact that they did not include her into the decision-making. The news of Beast Boy's suspension was finally settling in each of them, and there was a short moment of silence. Robin, then, sighed.

"Also, Cyborg may need some help, so we've also decided to call in a specialist in sakutia," Robin mentioned, Beast Boy and Raven both immediately froze, "His name is Dr. Register and he's the—,"

"I'm sorry, Robin, but I need to stop you right there," Beast Boy held up his hand to him. Robin a mildly taken aback by this motion, but he did compose. Beast Boy put his hand down. Beast Boy's nerves were shot with anxiety after realizing that he interrupted Robin.

"I know who Dr. Register is, and if you value my life on any level…You. Will. Not. Call. Him," Beast Boy emphasized. Robin raised his right brow. Beast Boy continued, "Dr. Register use to work for my parents, and was my guardian for a time way back when. Ever since I got my powers he's been obsessing to find a cure for sakutia—."

"Dr. Register is the one who attacked him on the ship," Raven helping out before Beast Boy started to ramble. She looked at Cyborg, "he's also the one who's been injecting him with radioactive chemicals. All those times Beast Boy disappeared were the times when Register attacked him."

"Are you serious?" Cyborg said softly. Beast Boy nodded and then turned to Robin.

"You can't call him, Robin. He's the bad guy! He's just looking for another chance to get to me, to find ways to control my powers and everything. And if he doesn't, then he's definitely going to end up killing me!" Beast Boy interjected. Raven touched his shoulder with her bandaged right hand to relax him.

"We need to go after him fast. He also has the same powers as Beast Boy," Raven said softly, "we're sure Register's trying to find a way to get to him again, and he's crazy enough to hurt innocent people."

When they finally finished, silence was spread out again. Cyborg's face was penetrated with shock and fear, his eye was wide and his lip slightly quivered. Starfire had the same expression as Cyborg, except the only difference between them was her hand covered her mouth. Robin had stayed absolutely still through out their entire piece. His brows were furrowed the entire time, but he did not move. Beast Boy and Raven were looking at him with earnest, wishing he would say something. More or less, he would say something close to the lines that involved them immediately going after Register within the next 24 hours.

"And you two are the only ones who this for sure?" he asked randomly. Raven furrowed her brow.

"Yes," they both answered. Robin looked down and sighed.

"I guess we're not calling Register," and with that Robin got up with his plate. He walked towards the kitchen area to the sink and rinsed off his plate. Then he started to walk towards the side door.

"I need to think," Robin said and then disappeared. The other four Titans watched him leave and then turned to each other.

Beast Boy bowed his head then got up and took his plate to the sink. He left to go into his room in silence. Raven saw Beast Boy leave the room and was beyond irritated. She wasn't irritated with Beast Boy, no, in fact she felt the same way he did for him, defeated. Raven was irritated with Robin. She didn't understand why Robin left the way that he did, and she questioned why he needed to "think" about the situation with Register.

What _was_ there to think about? There is an evil scientist with super powers on the loose and is threatening one of his teammates. If he cared at all, Robin should have immediately ordered an attack or at least fashioned some sort of plan that would start in the morning. If Robin was the kind of person she thought he was, he should have immediately heed their warning. This was strike one, for Robin.

Later on, it was a very dark and dank two o'clock in the morning. Everyone in the Titans Tower already went off to sleep in their own rooms. Usually, they slept in a uniform; they always did this just in case some criminal was idiotic enough to rob a bank in the middle of the night, which happened quite often. Crime never sleeps.

However, because of recent events with the cruise ship and Beast Boy's violent attack in downtown Jump City, the Teen Titans have been getting less and less calls that involved any sort of trouble or crime. This new revelation scared Robin, he feared that the city would rebel against its protectors, toss them aside like a bunch of old newspapers. With this new fear, he didn't find a need to wear his uniform to bed anymore. Robin still wore his mask, but his uniform was replaced with pin straight red t-shirt and a pair of dark grey sweat pants. He also felt really overstressed these past few weeks, and a good night sleep in comfortable clothing was Robin's antidote. Robin slept in his double bed above his white sheets; he was still and straight as if he was locked away in a space capsule. Robin's breathing was slow and relaxing, it was if he had trained himself to breathe quietly so his ears could pick up the sounds around him.

However, his ears could only detect so much, and the trick was to understand what the sound was and to distinguish them from stealthy criminals or creaks in the Tower. Suddenly, he did hear a sound that didn't sound like a creak; it was more of a rumble or a growl. It grew louder and louder, Robin rolled over in reaction to the sound, he assumed that he was just hungry, but he didn't feel like getting up to satisfy it.

The loud growl got even louder in the silence; soon Robin opened his eyes wide when he realized that it wasn't his stomach. He didn't even have a chance to take a guess when a giant claw swiped clean through his bed after he jumped out of the way. His sheets were thrown behind the giant green beast, and then Robin jumped off the opposite wall and kicked the beast in his chin sending the massive monster into the other wall. Suddenly, Cyborg and Starfire opened his door and witnessed the giant green beast attacking Robin.

"Robin!" Starfire shouted, she quickly flew over the beast towards Robin to protect him from impeding attacks. The beast started to swipe his massive claws at Robin and Starfire, but Starfire threw a starbolt at one of his hands. The beast howled in pain, and then suddenly Raven came through the door. Cyborg grabbed a hold of the beast's neck from behind, and the green giant growled with anger. Raven stood there surprised.

"C'mon, Raven! Help us out!" Cyborg shouted over the beast's loud growling. Raven quickly fanned out her hand and sent out another mind pulse to knock him out. The only problem was that the beast didn't fall to the ground.

"It's not working!" Raven shouted. Cyborg still held onto his neck as Robin and Starfire grabbed his huge fury green arms and braced him against the closed door. Raven flew in front of the beast to see if she could get a clearer shot then from the back of his head. Once again, she fanned out her hand and tried again. But, the beast still struggled against his teammates straining him. Raven was getting frustrated and angry. Raven levitated closer to his face, and tried to touch his head hoping that will send the best shot possible and a more powerful mind pulse. The beast saw her getting closer and then snapped his enormous mouth at her incoming hand. Raven quickly drew it away before he had a chance. This in turn made Raven even angrier.

"BEAST BOY!" She shouted in maddening annoyance at him. Raven felt the sudden need to punch him in the face; she had her hand pulled back ready for the attack. She was planning to knock him out and worry about the mind pulse later. However, at the sound of his name, the beast's eyes opened wide and he froze, Raven saw his pupils moving rapidly from side to side and then suddenly stop. The beast immediately began to shrink in size and his hair began to disappear beneath his green skin. After a few seconds the mad beast turned back into the green human teenager. Beast Boy quickly sucked in a massive breath and started to breathe difficultly. Cyborg quickly realized that he was choking him and let go of his neck as Robin and Starfire let go of his arms. Raven was standing in front of him, showing an expression that was beyond aggravated. Beast Boy's breath started to slow to a soft pant and saw Raven in the dark. He was confused.

"Raven?" he asked. He looked at the others "Guys?" He rubbed the top of his head since it was throbbing, like it usually does when he transforms into that monster. Suddenly, he realized what he had done when he saw that he was in Robin's room, standing over a pile of ripped sheets.

"Oh no…what have I done?"

Cyborg was standing in front of a few computer monitors off to the side wall inside the infirmary. Beast Boy was sitting on the nearest bed closest to Cyborg. Robin was sitting in one of the chairs on the opposite end while Starfire rubbed one of his shoulders to ease his stress. Raven leaned against the wall beside the bed which Beast Boy sat on, still irritated from what happened. Beast Boy looked past guilty and more on the lines of devastation. He had his hands in his lap and his legs were hanging off the side of the bed. Wires were attached to his forehead, and to his bare chest where his heart was beating furiously. Occasionally he would pick at his white t-shirt that was lying next to him. Cyborg tore himself away from the large screens on the wall and grabbed something from the black cabinets next to the window above the countertops. He then turned to Beast Boy holding a sphygmomanometer in his hands. Beast Boy held out his left arm in assumption. Cyborg wrapped the blue pressure wrap around his arm and loosely tightened it. He started pumping up air pressure while checking the gauge.

"170 over 110," Cyborg said as he relieved the pressure in the wrap. Then he sighed, "That's not good, man. Not good at all," then Beast Boy sighed.

"So, what's going on with me, Cy?" he asked concerned. Cyborg bowed his head and placed his hands on his metallic waist.

"I'm not sure," he said. Cyborg then placed a hand underneath his chin in deep thought.

"Gar," Raven called him. Beast Boy turned his head behind his left shoulder to look at Raven in surprise. The others stared at her confused about the name she just gave Beast Boy, but she ignored them. Raven was still leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her blue hood down, so Beast Boy could see her pale face in the bright light.

"Did you go to sleep feeling bad or upset? Were you angry with Robin about the suspension?" she asked. Robin furrowed his brow at her and growled softly. Starfire started to massage his other shoulder. Raven glared at him. Beast Boy was in thought then he answered.

"Um, I don't think so. I was…sort of…bummed about it, I guess. But, at the same time I was feeling alright after I went to sleep. I thought Robin's decision was the best idea, even though I don't really like being shut in," he said. Raven sighed and muttered to herself something incoherent.

"Did you have any nightmares?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy turned back around to face him.

"No, I was having a pretty dreamless night. I didn't wake up until I heard Raven calling me, or more yelling at me," he chuckled once at looked over his shoulder at her again, "thanks for that." Raven shrugged. Cyborg's face went back into think mode. After a long pause of silence, Cyborg turned towards the window and threw his hands up in the air in surrender.

"Well, then the only thing that I can think that would make this happen is another trigger," he said and then turned to face the others, "Your mind is more vulnerable at night when you are asleep. So, the infected serotonin has a better chance to take over your head. Therefore…," Cyborg paused.

"You transform unwillingly in your sleep." Beast Boy looked at him with fear.

"That explains why my mind pulse wouldn't work. You were already unconscious," Raven explained leaning her head back against the cold metal wall of the infirmary.

"So, what do we do now? Or…what do I need to do? This has gotta stop, Cy. I don't know what I'd do if I hurt any one of you guys again," Beast Boy asked desperately. Cyborg shook his head and shrugged. Raven could tell that Cyborg was feeling very frustrated and upset. Suddenly, Robin spoke up.

"You need to be contained again," Robin said bluntly, and possibly offensively. Everyone in the room could tell that he didn't have a real good attitude towards Beast Boy. Robin's answer actually made Beast Boy feel really bad, not for the idea that was given, but the tone that it was given in. He felt so terrible attacking Robin. Raven on the other hand…

"No! That is ridiculous. He didn't do it on purpose, Robin," she said arrogantly at Robin getting up from the wall, "He's perfectly in control when he's not upset or sleeping. We don't need to lock him up after one hiccup in his recovery."

"He is dangerous, he has no control," Robin argued tiredly, he felt that he already said this way too many times, "he's going to be contained."

"Maybe it's not Beast Boy at all, Robin. Didn't you tell us to keep Beast Boy calm at all times? Maybe you should take some of your own advice," Raven argued right back in an aggravated tone. Robin sighed frustrated. Cyborg started taking off the wires from Beast Boy's head and chest.

"Beast Boy said that he wasn't upset with my decision to suspend him," he said.

"Maybe not consciously, Robin. But, subconsciously he's still very angry with you, and you keep encouraging it with your rash decisions about him. Perhaps, you need to watch—,"

"Raven, he's right," Beast Boy said defeated. Raven stopped to look at the green changeling. He was standing up from the bed right next to her. Raven stared at him stunned.

"You're agreeing to this?" she asked in disbelief. Beast Boy nodded his head with a sad frown.

"I need to be contained. He's right, I have no control over it, and I don't want to hurt anyone else here, especially you," he smiled at her and then softly tapped the underside of her chin with his fist, "I would like it better if our friendship grew without me ripping your head off," he chuckled a bit at his lame attempt at a joke. He then rubbed her upper-arm, "thanks for sticking up for me though," he whispered.

Raven still did not want him to go through with this, they were the Teen Titans, and they should be able to find a way to fix this, like they always do in these situations. Beast Boy should not be locked up like he's some kind of animal. She knew why he was agreeing to this, and that thought in turn made her a little mad at Beast Boy. She knew that he just agreed to this because of this guilt he has building up inside of him. Raven wished he would just man up and stop being such a pansy about it. He had nothing to be guilty for! She wouldn't believe it.

"Come on, B. We need to do it now," Cyborg placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him out.

Raven saw them leave and quickly followed after them; she didn't want to be left in the room with Robin. The things that Robin said to her just moments before were going through her mind like an angry tornado. Too bad Beast Boy didn't rip his head off, she thought, might as well do it herself, she definitely felt like doing it. She stopped at the door.

"I warned you this would happen," Raven stared directly at him with vicious eyes and an angry frown. Strike two for Robin, she thought.

Beast Boy saw her following and smiled softly at her. They reached the end of the hallway and stopped in front of the large thick doors again. This was the third time Raven has seen these doors. First time was when she was confined to hide away from her father, even though she knew the inevitable. The second time was when she was going in to take away Beast Boy's pain, which she successfully did, but he took a small piece of her with him. Raven subconsciously rubbed her bandaged hand. Now this time is the third time, Raven was now witnessing Beast Boy's second time in being confined. This was so wrong, she felt. Cyborg pressed a button in the wall and the familiar keypad opened up. Cyborg placed the metallic key in the key hole and then typed in his personal code. The keypad shined "Hello, Cyborg," and the large metal lock began to move away from each other and the doors opened widely again.

The three of them moved inside the room again, Beast Boy and Raven walked in the middle of the blank room. Raven got a huge chill go through her body. Cyborg pressed a small square in graved into the walls. Suddenly the floor opened up in the middle, and Beast Boy and Raven quickly got out of the way. Out of the floor came a small flat metal table with a white cot attached to it. On the left and right sides of the metal bed were industrial-sized chain mail titanium straps. There were eight of them on each side, and they hung on the side like seat belts released from the buckle in the car. Raven looked at the bed, stunned again.

"What is this?" she exasperated. Cyborg kept his eyes focused on the button he just pressed.

"It's an industrialized hydro-pressured restrictive table. The titanium cuffs that we used to first contain Beast Boy were destroyed when he transformed, so I needed to find another way to control him," Cyborg turned around walked to the table and picked up one of the straps to show them, "these straps are very strong and very durable, the core of the straps are chromium layered with a carbon and titanium metalloid. They will also be able to stretch and keep the restraint on you tight if you transform at all. We'll have you hooked up to the monitors, so we'll be alerted when you do change. Also, I figured a bed would be more comfortable then standing up, since this time…we don't know how long you'll be in here."

"Was this here before?" Raven asked. Cyborg turned to her.

"Yeah…it was here when I first built it. I wasn't exactly sure what would happen with you, just preparing for anything. I added the straps about a day ago," Cyborg gave her a smirk. Raven just looked away.

Without thinking, Beast Boy immediately jumped onto the table-like cot and laid down straight. Cyborg sighed softly and walked towards the table to begin strapping him down. He began buckling Beast Boy's legs; he fastened the first buckle around his ankles in loops, so his feet would not slip out. Cyborg continued to loop the belts around his calves and thighs until he got to his waist. Once he got to the waist he simply strapped the buckles across his body and his torso. He looped his arms with the remaining two straps. Then lastly, Cyborg strapped one more buckle across his head. Raven watched this in disgust. Cyborg caught her steady glare with his red eye, but quickly looked away just wishing he knew what to say to her. He pressed a button on the side of the table.

"Whoa, what's that?" Beast Boy asked feeling something move slowly beneath his cot, rolling up and down his entire body. Cyborg kept his non-emotional expression at Beast Boy's surprise when he answered.

"Bed massager, it will prevent bed sores and you won't be so uncomfortable lying down. Also, the table's voice activated. So, if you want to speed up the massager or change the angle of the table just say so," he explained.

"So, if I want to change my angle, what do I say? 'Up?' Whoa," once he said that his head began to lift up while his feet went down only about three inches. Cyborg gave a small chuckle.

"Yeah, just like that, but when you say that it only moves so much, if you want it to go higher say the degree number like 'angle 85,'" Cyborg said. The table then moved all the way up into a vertical position where Beast Boy felt like he was standing up, but still at a slight slant.

"Okay, so going back to lying down would be 'angle zero?'" the table moved back to its original position. Beast Boy then gave Cyborg a questionable look.

"So, what if I'm hungry or suddenly nature calls?" he asked wistfully. Cyborg rolled his eyes.

"You're going to have to call us. One of us will always be watching from the red room," Cyborg enlightened, he pointed to the red window above them. Beast Boy showed a bit of doubt.

"What about missions?" he asked unhappily. Cyborg presented a sad smile.

"You know we haven't been getting a lot of those," he said miserably. Beast Boy nodded.

"Yeah…right," he said in a soft whisper. Cyborg nodded in response and then said…

"'Night, B," and then he turned and walked out with Raven behind him. Raven turned around and saw Beast Boy slowly dozing off with his eyes drooping shut and then Cyborg started to close the large metal door in front of them. It turned and jeered loudly in the quiet hallway and finally closed. Raven looked up to Cyborg and he gave off another sigh and bowed his head.

"I don't like this anymore than you do you know, but it is for the best," he said to her. Raven scoffed.

"Whatever," she muttered. Cyborg expected her to walk off, but she was still standing there.

"I'm gonna keep first watch on him," he whispered. Then, Raven walked off.

"Fine," she called softly behind her. Cyborg then went inside a smaller door to the right of the large one and disappeared. Raven took the elevator up to the top floor, she assumed Starfire and Robin did the same, and retired to her room for sleep.

Next morning, Raven, Starfire and Robin were up and already sitting down at the yellow dining room table on the left side of the Ops. Robin was reading the newspaper barely picking at his ham and eggs, Starfire was munching on mustard pancakes, and Raven was reading the ending of a book after she finished her eggs, ham, 3 pieces of toast, 3 pancakes, and glass of orange juice along with her herbal tea to complete the all-star meal.

The main doors automatically opened letting in Cyborg. He walked down the small set of stairs, stretched and yawned loudly.

"Mornin', y'all," he said rubbing the back of his metallic neck. He walked over to the refrigerator.

"Good Morning, friend," Starfire said politely. "Morning," Raven said at the same time. Robin just got down to business.

"So, did Beast Boy transform anymore last night?" Robin asked Cyborg. Cyborg turned his head.

"Sort of…he was going in and out of transformations, morphing from human to animal and back again…I know he didn't sleep very well. But, I guess that's just normal for now," he finished. Raven watched Cyborg for a few moments. He was pulling out pans and things that she assumed were for his breakfast. Then he pulled out an ingredient that he never uses for himself.

"Are you cooking tofu?" Raven asked in surprise. Starfire and Robin looked at him strangely. Cyborg looked up and then back at the frying pan to realize what they were talking about.

"Oh, yeah, it's for BB. Since he can't leave that room, I figured I'd go ahead and make'em his specialty," he explained, the others shrugged and went back to their own business. Cyborg started to concentrate on his breakfast making. He flipped a small piece of tofu by tossing it in the air and it landed neatly back in the frying pan. Cyborg finished making the meat-free meal and placed it on a white plate. He then opened up the small yellow fridge inside the cabinets.

However, before he bent down his head, he and Robin caught each other's sight. Cyborg gave off a stern stare as if he was waiting for approval. Robin nodded at him, and Cyborg continued with his business.

"Hey, Raven," Cyborg called nonchalantly into the refrigerator, Raven looked up, "you're up for the morning watch. Can you take BB's food to him?"

Raven nodded, she took her breakfast plates and got up to place them in the sink. She picked up his plate, and then Cyborg pushed a tall glass of milk towards her.

"Soymilk," he said. Raven nodded again, and grabbed the glass as well. She walked up the stairs and the pressured doors opened and closed behind her. Cyborg stared at the door for a few moments and then turned his head slowly towards Robin.

"I hope you know what you're doing, man," he commented. Robin continued to read his paper.

Beast Boy could hear the large metal doors opening slowly. Unfortunate for him, he couldn't turn his head to see who was coming, so he had to readjust his position.

"Angle 60, rotate 90," he commanded, and his table moved accordingly. He was slightly leaning back, but he was now facing the door, so he could see who it was. Raven entered and saw him up and about…sort of. Beast Boy grinned at her and the plate of food she had in her hands.

"Thank heavens, I'm starving!" he exclaimed. Raven rolled her eyes at him. Then he saw what was on the plate and gave off a mild repulsive reaction. Raven looked confused at the plate.

"What? It's your favorite, tofu eggs and bacon," she said.

"Well, if you guys want me to get this under control, I don't think meat-free substitutes are the answer," he replied with a smile. Raven just stood there, curious.

"I thought you were under oath to not eat other animals," she said. Beast Boy frowned softly.

"The people that I care about are more important than my principles," he said directly. Raven slowly nodded and she could feel his concern and guilt consume him.

"Well, that's very thoughtful of you. But you might just need to suffer this time," she said. Beast Boy rolled his eyes, but he faded into confusion.

"So, how's this gonna work? I'm kinda unable to use my hands," he waved his hands back and forth, and then he smirked, "unless _you_ are planning to feed me."

"You don't have that kind of luck, Gar," Raven smarted. Beast Boy laughed. She opened up the touch screen keypad to the right of the large door. Her finger skimmed the many buttons until she found the one she was looking for...she pressed "dining." Suddenly, a flat blue metal surface table top popped out of the wall along with L-shaped metal pieces on either side of the metal surface on the right side of where Beast Boy was facing.

"Angle zero," she commanded. Beast Boy looked at her confused. Raven placed his food on the metal table and then she walked over to Beast Boy and started to un-strap him from his insanity slab, she thought.

"Raven, you shouldn't stay here," Beast Boy said fearfully. Raven looked up at him confused.

"Why not? I thought you could use the company," she said continuing to unbuckle the straps around his legs, "Plus, I have the next watch, so you're going to have to deal with me anyway."

"Okay, but Cyborg just watched me from the red room," Beast Boy defended. Raven looked down displeased at him, thinking that he didn't want her in there for a short moment.

"Well, I prefer here. It's a little stuffy in there, at least in here there's some room to breathe," she unbuckled the strap around his waist after she was done un-looping his legs. Beast Boy stared at her fearfully.

"Raven, please…I-I don't want to hurt you," he begged. She gazed at him curiously for a long moment, knowing that he was so afraid but wondering what he was thinking. She wondered if he didn't think that she couldn't handle him. Raven leaned down towards his face so she could reach to unbuckle the last strap around his head. Beast Boy stare at her desperately and pleading to fulfill his logic. Raven just let off a small smug smile, to prove to him that she was fine. She unbuckled the last strap.

"Get up. You're breakfast is getting cold, and I can't imagine what tofu must be like cold."

Raven spent her entire watch inside with Beast Boy, and she did not keep him restrained no matter how much he tried to reason with her. Beast Boy ultimately decided to give up and he took the opportunity to simply talk to her. They talked throughout the morning until it was the middle of the afternoon. Beast Boy didn't even notice that he missed his lunch; it was just nice to have someone there with him and he could be himself, like before things went crazy.

"So, how's life on the outside?" he joked with her. Raven rolled her eyes.

"You say it like you've been in here for years," she remarked, "it's only been a few hours."

"Try more like half a day, I know it hasn't been that long, but I guess just knowing that I'm gonna be here for a while…" his words faded away into silence, and then he sighed, "I don't know what I'm feeling…"

"Guilt, regret, frustration, anger and a little clusterphobic," Raven named off. Now it was Beast Boy's turn to roll his eyes.

"I didn't need a list!" he chuckled a bit, "I don't understand how you're still sitting with me if you feel all that too," Raven shrugged.

"Well, the main one is serenity, and that's the most important," she said, "but still, it's not like I could meditate in here. I could if I was able to anyway." Beast Boy furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean? You can't meditate anymore?" he asked innocently.

"It's nothing, I just haven't done it in a few days, so my emotions are a bit unstable," she explained. Beast Boy started to worry.

"How come you haven't been meditating?" he asked softly. Raven smirked.

"Cause I've been concerned over you, what else?" she said. Beast Boy was not amused. He paled, Raven could feel his shift in his feelings, and she did not like where he was heading. She exhaled noisily.

"Actually, most of the time I've been frustrated at Robin," she placed her good left hand over her forehead. Beast Boy bowed his head to look at the table.

"That makes sense," he muttered, "you were against this in the first place."

"It's not just that…he doesn't trust you. I'm worried that he would do something drastic just to stop you altogether," Raven admitted. Beast Boy was taken aback.

"He doesn't trust me?" he repeated. Raven rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, it radiates off of him every time I walk into a room. It's so poisoning that I'm shocked you don't feel it," she responded. Beast Boy knew Robin had some sort of problem with him, but the way he was feeling now affected his outlook on their leader.

"Well, at least he has good intentions, can't blame him for that," he reasoned. Raven stared at him in disgust with her mouth hung open.

"Good intentions! He's making your life miserable by making you stay locked up in here for no reason," she said a little louder than normal. She suddenly felt a wave of anger wash over her.

"No reason?! He has every reason to lock me up! I _attacked _him!" he yelled, standing up and towering over her as if he was about to strike. Raven stared back at him, ready to take him on, her fists started to glow her soft black aurora. Beast Boy glared back at her for several moments of silence, then his look of hatred began to soften, his muscles relaxed, and his eyes began to open wide with shock. Frightened by what had just happened he stopped breathing for a second. He was so terrified by the intentions for Raven that were flowing through his head that he didn't even notice the large metal door in front of him slowly opening. Raven turned and saw the door as well.

Robin quickly walked through before the door was finished opening. He stared at Raven's glowing fists and waited for her to calm them. Raven did just that, and Beast Boy sat back down, Robin stared at both of them unsure of what to make of the situation that was in front of him. He decided to take the high road, in his state of opinion.

"Beast Boy, please get back on the table," he commanded him. Beast Boy nodded and turned to do just that, Robin turned to Raven.

"Your morning watch is over, you may go," he said so orderly that Raven groaned in disgust. She aggressively got up and stormed pass Robin. Robin stepped towards Beast Boy to begin to buckle him down.

"Raven," Beast Boy called. She turned towards him, Robin kept buckling. He started with Beast Boy's head, so he was unable to look at her.

"Please…try to meditate," he pleaded. Raven's frustration softened, and gradually turned to walk out.

Once Raven left the room she phased up through the Tower into the main hallway that her room was on. She could feel the frustrating feelings peaking inside her, she could feel the slightest thing might set her off, and someone could get hurt. Raven stood in front of her door, just letting the emotions flow through her for a moment. It felt so good just to think about the relief afterwards, and she was dying to burst and just let it out. But she knew that she couldn't, she wouldn't. The lights in the hallway began to flicker, she noticed. Suddenly, the light bulb above her popped, sending small shatters of glass towards her. Raven stopped them telekinetically. Glowing black pieces of glass circled around her head frozen. Then they disappeared, along with her.

She decided to not go into her room, but instead go up on the roof to get some fresh air. Raven opened the door to the roof and saw the sun was behind some clouds, creating overcast. The wind was light, and the waves were bashing against the island. The sound soothed her, and then she decided to heed Beast Boy's plea and try to meditate on the roof.

Raven sat in her lotus position, closed her eyes, and slowed her breath. She the last thing she saw was the city. The last thought she had was about Beast Boy. Then all the troubled weight of the stress she was feeling slowly began to fade away…

…the still blackness of her mind was waning before her. The darkness behind her eyelids began to brighten only just. Suddenly, she felt a droplet of moisture on the tip of her nose, and her eyes opened fully. It was evening; the only thing left from the sun was the bright glowing border around the dark clouds that hovered over Jump City. Raven relinquished her lotus position and touched back down to the roof of the Tower gracefully. Judging by the night beginning to form around her, she guessed that she had been meditating for at least four hours.

If she could call that meditating. Her emotional state was no better off then when she started, she might have done better sleeping. Worry, anger, and all the negative energy swirled inside her, desperately trying to take control. Raven wasn't sure what to do; she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold it in.

She decided to see where the others were, first. Then she wanted to check up on Beast Boy to make sure Robin wasn't doing anything worth her compressed emotional explosion. Raven phased through the roof into the Ops. Once her glow faded she looked around. No one was here. The television was on the News again, but it was muted, but the main story was about them again. She saw the sky outside through the window, the clouds were getting darker, and she assumed it was about to rain. Raven decided that she could find the others later. She was more concerned about Beast Boy.

Once again she phased. Her black raven-like aurora melted through the floor all the way down to the first level of the building. Raven phased back inside the hallway of the infirmary and the confinement room. She turned to head towards the confinement room where Beast Boy was.

Shock and surprise consumed her as the confinement room door was left open, and she could see Beast Boy's bed inside, empty. An extremely bad feeling suddenly came over her. Raven's frustration over the failed meditation transformed into anger. She turned back and barged right through the infirmary doors, hopefully able to find some answers.

She definitely found something. Raven gasped at the scenario that had fallen before her. Beast Boy was unconscious in a bed still restrained with straps. Cyborg was over by the monitors examining them, now he was surprised at Raven's sudden burst. Robin was leaning against the wall staring at her with the same expression as hers. Starfire was standing next to the man she now loathed. But her friends were not the problem, no; it was the greasy haired man in the white coat drawing blood from her friend's arm. Which from where Raven was standing, he was on his 8th vile of green blood.

"You must be Raven," Dr. Register said to break the intense atmosphere, "Your leader, Robin, has told all about your situation with this," Raven glared at Robin with dangerous eyes. Her anger now grew into a deadly rage, and she started to hyperventilate. Dr. Register continued, "You shouldn't worry, your friend is in good hands."

Raven continued to stare in silence. Dr. Register was staring too, waiting for a response. Raven's glowing eyes was the last thing he saw before he was catapulted across the room and smashed into the opposite wall. Starfire gave a short scream; Cyborg went to help Dr. Register up, while Robin went for Raven, but he wasn't fast enough. She had already phased out.

Raven opened her door and immediately went into her room without a second thought. Her palm was stretched out and she slammed it into the button that closes her door. The sudden impact caused the door to delay and was strong enough to leave a small crack on the surface of the button.

Her feelings were out of control, and she was doing everything in all her strength and inner peace to suppress them. Her books were flying off the shelves and hitting the opposite walls, imbedding themselves within it. Her bed sheets flew off and started to rip themselves in mid-air. Her lamps started to explode leaving her in the darkness, the light outside didn't help because it started to pour rain.

Raven didn't care what happened to room, she was lucky that she was keeping it controlled inside one room. She couldn't handle it, the rage was too much. Raven grabbed her hair pulling at the ends, tortured between suppressing herself and letting herself go. Finally, she had enough. Raven yelled and smashed her fists into the wall leaving imprinted images of her hands inside it. She didn't know she had such strength to do that, but she didn't care. The release felt so good, she welcomed the pain.

A round of pounding came off her door. Raven was distracted and everything flying around in her room froze in place. She pressed the button to open the door, not really thinking about what she was doing. She opened it and saw Robin, the last person on Earth that she wanted to see. Robin saw her profusely sweating and brow furrowed, he demanded an explanation as to why she so rudely left the room. She couldn't believe the way he was treating her like a child. She reasoned the best she could but failed because she was having trouble controlling this irrepressible rage.

"Explain," Robin demanded.

"There's no need for me to _explain_ my reaction, Robin. You should know me well enough to know why I left that room the way I did," she said.

"Well, if that was the case I wouldn't be standing here knocking on your door asking for one," Robin knew that this was about him not telling her about Register, "I wouldn't have done this if I had no other choice; this is for Beast Boy's own good."

"How dare you?" she challenged him. He stood his ground. She continued.

"How dare you have the audacity to treat Beast Boy this way? After he has been nothing but loyal to this team and to you? How can you stand there and tell me that and then give permission to some mad scientist to poke and prod him? Even more so, you don't even include _me_ into the decision? ...And you're asking for an explanation!" she finished. Robin showed no emotions, but that didn't stop Raven from feeling the frustration and anger swooning off of him.

"I didn't include you into this decision because I knew that you would be against it! I decided to take matters into my own hands for the sake of Beast Boy. So, don't tell me that I don't care about him! I realize who this man is, and why it is crucial that we keep an eye on him. However, he is the only sakutia expert alive. So, right now he is the best option for Beast Boy, and I'm going to do what it takes to make him better! And if that doesn't involve you, then that's just fine by me."

"Robin…," Raven was hyperventilating again as she mutters his name through her grinding teeth. Her hands began to curl into tight fists.

"Now, let me give _you_ a warning, Raven," he walked closer to her to get in her face, "You are not doing him any good by being apart of this. And if you do know what's good for him, then you will do the right thing and stay away from him. When it's all done, I'll let you know what the next step will be."

Strike three.

Raven punched Robin in the face to knock him out cold. Raven's punch was so forceful that he slammed into the wall across her door. Blood started to drip from his left nostril; his left cheek was turning purple at a quick rate. Raven shut her door with one push of the button beside it, and she leaned her back against its coolness trying to calm her self down. But, it was no use. She was growling, the anger she felt was like none she had ever felt before, even when she was under the influence of her father. She could not understand it! Frustration turned to anger, and the anger turned into rage and the rage felt like it was exploding out of her skin.

Raven felt now that this was in the more literal sense as her body began to expand. Her leotard slowly started to rip, and she began to scream in pain. The bandages wrapped around her right hand ripped apart and fell to the floor when her hand began to swell. Raven looked down and saw the green bruise enlarge underneath her pale skin. Her entire hand started to turn green, and then it spread until it covered her entire arm. In just a few seconds, her arm was covered in fury violet locks, the same pigment as her hair. The pain was excruciating, she could feel her teeth grow larger, her muscles growing in strength and mass, her spine curling, her throat throbbing as her voice changed from screaming to roaring. Until, by some miracle from the heavens above, she blacked out.


End file.
